Debunking the Myth about Hong Kong Living

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4 years ago
Photo credit: scmp.com

It’s more expensive to live in Hong Kong than anywhere in the world. It’s been ranked as the least affordable housing in the world for 10 years in a row. And by the long shot, housing price by now is 20 times higher than annual household income.

Photo credit: cnbc.com

The inflated prices are forcing Hongkongers to squeeze into unconventionally small spaces that can affect their quality of life. Most of the places are no better than a parking space.

Photo credit: medium.com

Some residences living in subdivided houses will have to share 1 room. In order to save money for the rents, they have no choice but to share with other families.

Photo credit: scmp.com

And most extreme cases, Hongkongers have resorted to homes that size of a coffin.

Some buildings are turned into cage house. Cage house is a residence type, is originated in Hong Kong and popular since 1950.

The government began to build as a residential apartment but over the period of time, the residence apartment is converted into smaller rooms in rectangular units called metal cage –stacked on top of each other.

• The room usually occupied by 5-6 people with the size of one cage (2 × 0,5 meters). This metal cage is rented for HK $ 1,500-2,000 (US$200- US$255).

• Today, the cage house is still filled with immigrants, elders, unemployed, and those who do odd jobs.

• They usually use a shared bucket to wash their clothes interchangeably. Some even made their toilet as their kitchen as well.

• Poor hygiene, no privacy, fighting over small things, and uncomfortable living are the most problems living in a cage house.

• Some even prefer to stay outside and sleep on the streets, subways and overpass rather than squeezing themselves in one room. Public toilets are their place for bathing and washing clothes.

Some report also states that Hong Kong is not only the most expensive city to buy property in, but also “one of the most expensive places to rent, ranking third after New York and Abu Dhabi.

The basic explanation why the price is so high is because of land scarcity. If seven and a half million people crumbed into a series of violence, it will gonna drive up the prices, same stories to other places where they ran out of land – high prices, high demands.

But to some experts, it’s not about land scarcity. The problem is, bad land use and management. In fact, 75% land of Hong Kong is non-built up area. Some of that are mountains and rocky and are not easy to build on. Above the land in Hong Kong, only 3.7% is zone for urban housing. It’s not because of mountains, it’s because of policy.

The government owns all of the land of Hong Kong. The land that is able to be developed is mostly controlled by the government, which offers land to developers behind the scenes by tender.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's government controls nearly half of the total supply or housing through public housing rentals and assisted home ownership purchase programs, which are intended for lower-income families. Meaning, just about half of the housing market is available on the private market.

While foreigners thinks Hong Kong is the best place to live, think twice before you try. Or you might end up living on a cage.

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4 years ago

Comments

Dark Side of a Shining Country.

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4 years ago

Yes it is..

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4 years ago

Kindly sub back btw. 🤗 thanks

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4 years ago

Already subscribed, you may subscribe me.

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4 years ago

Done

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4 years ago

So sad for a nice country..,mas mahirap pa sa phillipines even if their country is rich and promising

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4 years ago

Not really.. gaya dn sa pinas my mga squater.. kahit sa ibang bansa...try to search sa paris my mga squater area dn... Hk pinakamahal ngayon sa mundo... maliit lng space dto so kulang ng land area ng pagtatayuan.. kya mahal ang bahay dahl mataas ang demand..at pagmamay.ari ng government ang lupa

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4 years ago

Pero mas maunlad sila kesa dito sa pinas..,sana ndi rin matulad dito yan,,

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4 years ago

Mas malaki ang pinas compare sa HK.. jan malawak ang lupa..dami pa space pwd tirahan... yun ngalng yung walang lupa nagiging squater.. sa probinsyanlng tumira..haha

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4 years ago

Yup..kgaya nmin nangungupahan lng sa laguna..pero sa probinsya may lupa (bicol)..

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4 years ago

pro atleast sa pinas hndi pag mamay.ari ng government ang lupa..at malawak pa available space.. .

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4 years ago

Yup buti na lang qng nagkataon,,lalo pa tayo mahihirapan dito

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4 years ago

Pero hawal naman ng mga ganid na businessmen.. haha

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4 years ago

Un n nga,,.hahahaha,,pero ndi pa rin maiiwasan un

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4 years ago

Kya nga

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4 years ago

It is really sad.... 😔 A nice country but the dark side is that sale prices are also obscenely high. As population increases day by day, For such a vast majority of population, purchasing property is out of question.

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4 years ago

Exactly.. the government own all the lands here.. So businessmen need to do high bidding in order to buy a land for their businesses. Meanwhile, residence need to pay high rentals and buy expensive flats.

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4 years ago

Yes right dear

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4 years ago

I was sure this was only true in beijing and some other highly urbanized area in china but never knew about hong kong ;-; and i wanted to work there too

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4 years ago

HK is now the most expensive living in the world, just like LA and London... that's the truth.. many are squeezing themselves here in one room just to have somewhere to stay

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4 years ago

How about your condition there though? It feels like you're faring well enough?

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4 years ago

I'm living in a comfortable place here and earning better than in the Ph. 😁

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4 years ago

That's a relief to hear :""" i worried when i read your article

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4 years ago

I was hire as a private employee.. that means my employers are capable to pay for my salary. My boss is the boss in his office. 😁😁 and we're in one of the expensive flats in this city.. I'm just lucky I had them as my employers

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4 years ago

I can see that ;w; maybe they're looking for chemists? 😂😂😂

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4 years ago

Haha.. I told you, only residence can apply in that kind of job

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4 years ago

Shhh i was just hoping 😂😂😂😂😂

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4 years ago

why did you chose chemist btw?

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4 years ago

I was first a geologist but then rocks got boring so i shifted course. Now i see a lot pf mini explosions in the lab UwU

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4 years ago

Why not physician? Hehe..

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4 years ago

That's a post graduate study here. I've been considering it next to medicine and food technology

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4 years ago

Qow.. you'll be a successful one in the future for sure.. where did you study btw?

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4 years ago

Well hopefully i get hired first. I studied in adamson ^-^

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4 years ago

Well, you're kind've rich because the tuition there is so high..

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4 years ago

Nahh. We're middle class and compared to the other unis here, adu is fairly cheaper

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4 years ago

I thought it's expensive there, as it is one of the famous school in Manila

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4 years ago

Not at all, it's cheaper than TIP, NU, FEU, UST, LA SALLE, ATENEO and other schools in the area. Ofc state Us are out of this list

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4 years ago

That's good then.. It's good to meet a chemist like you. 😊

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4 years ago

How so? I've been called unusual for so long 😂

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4 years ago

I don't know any chemist in ph.. you'll be the first one..haha..future licensed chemist. 😊

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4 years ago

Next year paaaa. On hold lahat ng board exams 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭🥺

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4 years ago

Dhl sa pandemic.. malaki time mo mag study..hehe

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4 years ago

I already think I've over studied. I've already finished reading the 5 chem bibles

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4 years ago

Wow.. so you'll for sure pass the exam..

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4 years ago

Di ka surreee 😅😅😅😅😅 that exam is still at October and i don't think my memory will retain all that information

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4 years ago

It's easy to recall everything once you've read.the book already

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4 years ago

Well I'll still need another review by june to September next year so that will be my refresher course

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4 years ago

Goodluck syo.. I know you can make.it. 😊

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4 years ago

You're living in Hong Kong right? How's your situation?

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4 years ago

I'm just working here... so far I live in a comfortable place

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4 years ago

Very sad. Poor people. I hope the government can help them.

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4 years ago

Government help all..for some, it takes many years before they approved housing application here as thousands of people have pending files on the table.

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4 years ago

Oh that's nice.

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4 years ago

You've done well to debunk the issues

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4 years ago

Many doesn't know about it.. that's one of the issue of those protesters.. they're complaining about the high fees here..

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4 years ago

Thanks for this one, but what is their government doing about it.

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4 years ago

Well government can't control the population of HK, so that's there doing... it's so expensive to live here.. those who can't afford just live in those houses

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4 years ago

Same with Philippines

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4 years ago

Not really.. we don't have metal cage in there.. just squaters..

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4 years ago

This is sad. I've been to HongKong several times but only for a couple of days and maybe because of that I really had the impression that Hongkong is one of the best place to live in.

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4 years ago

Really? Yaman, pabakabakasyon. 😁😁 message me if you'll visit here again

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4 years ago

Yup been there several times pero hindi naman mayaman. Trabaho din sis.

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4 years ago

Hmm.. galing naman.. nakakapunta ka ibat ibang lugar... ano work mo?

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4 years ago

Used to be a fashion model now change career to full time mom and wife. 😁

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4 years ago

So you're a woman? Lol.. i thought you're a man.. haha..sorry... it's like i want to see you, for sure your pretty inside out

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4 years ago

😂 its ok sis. Bakit mo naman naiisip na lalake ako? 😂Hindi naman pretty confident lang.

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4 years ago

Name mo kc lioness..haha..kala ko lalaki ka..

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4 years ago

Lioness kc was born under the astrological sign leo kaya lioness ang gamit ko. Hehehe. Anyway I really enjoyed reading your articles thats why I can't help my self na wag magcomment. 😊

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4 years ago

I would say Hong Kong is an abnormal place where you pay for something doesn't worth the price. Too many people are living in hell.

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4 years ago

In other places, that rent is already good to get a better and comfortable place..

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4 years ago

Agree. Look around the major countries and cities in Asia, like Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, you can't live worse than in Hong Kong with the same or less prices.

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4 years ago

I thin singapore has high rentals as well.. even japan..heh..but yeah,HKs is still the highest.. I can even buy a piece of land already in my country with that rental...

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4 years ago

So many unconfirmed myths and beliefs about Hong kong

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4 years ago

True.. people only knows it for being a rich and shining country... yet there's a dark side hidden within the city

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4 years ago

This is really an eye-opener. I couldnt help my eyes bugging out the more I read into your article.

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4 years ago

Thank you for reading.. many doesn't know the dark side of HK..

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4 years ago

That is true.

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4 years ago

Really good post

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4 years ago

Thanks for reading

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4 years ago