Hong Kong's Mini Apartments Boom as Property Prices Soar

choi

艾尔玛斯利, 香港的公寓面积越来越小, VOA Chinese, July 25, 2017
https://www.voachinese.com/a/hk-apartment-20170725/3958439.html

, which a truncated translation of

Kelvin Chan, Hong Kong's Mini Apartments Boom as Property Prices Soar. Associated Press, July 20, 2017.
https://apnews.com/ac069eb5f70c4f17a86f481d64115c0f

Quote:

Donny Chan's "19th-floor apartment because it measures just 193 square feet (about 14 feet by 14 feet or 18 square meters). His parking space-sized studio in the grandly named High One 曉悅 building

"The apartments, dubbed 'mosquito-size units' or 'gnat flats' in Chinese [In Chinese = in Mandarin: 蚊子公寓; 細房 in Cantonese, where 細 means small]

"Hong Kong is often ranked the world's costliest housing market.

"their [micro-flats'] extravagant prices mean the young buyers who can afford the prison cell or parking lot sized units already are privileged by Hong Kong standards, said Edward Yiu, a lawmaker representing architects and surveyors.

"Transaction records show Chan's landlord bought the unit from developer Henderson Land [Co Ltd 恒基兆業地產有限公司; founded by Lee Shau-kee 李兆基 (1929- ) ] for about $500,000 in 2015. Chan's rent is $1,300 a month, or a third of his monthly salary. * * * Last year, developer MT Sisters' AVA 55 project sold units as small as 166 square feet (15.4 square meters) for as much as $500,000. [no Chinese name for either MT Sisters Ltd (2014- ) or AVA 55]

"Most Hong Kongers have a fraction of the space seen in other advanced economies, where average living space ranges from 40 to 50 square meters per person, or in mainland Chinese cities, where it measures 30 square meters. Residents of Hong Kong's numerous public housing estates, meanwhile, get less than 13 square meters.

Note:
(a) Kelvin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin
(Kelvin scale is named after the Belfast-born, Glasgow University [professor] William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824–1907) )
(oi) William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomson,_1st_Baron_Kelvin
(The title refers to the River Kelvin, which flows close by his laboratory at the University of Glasgow)

(b) Edward YIU Chung-yim 姚松炎 (PhD (in surveying?), University of Hong Kong (2002); re-elected in 2016 to Legislative Council 立法會 but disqualified thanks to 立法會宣誓風波)

(c) "Hong Kong's numerous public housing estates"
(i) estate (n): "1.1: British  an area of land and modern buildings developed for residential, industrial, or commercial purposes  <Lucy and Tony live on an estate in West London>  <a housing estate>  <an industrial estate>"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/estate
(ii) estate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate
(may refer to:
"Estate (land), the grounds and tenancies (such as farms, housing, woodland, parkland) associated with a very large property
• Housing estate, a group of houses built as a single development.
• Industrial estate (office park) and trading estate; property planned and sub-let for industrial and commercial use.
• Real estate or real property")
(iii) housing estate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_estate
("In the British Isles, the term is quite broad, and can include anything from high rise government-subsidised housing, right through to more upmarket, developer-led suburban tract housing")