- Title: Hong Kong's 'haunted' apartment prices levitate with white-hot market
- Date: 27th June 2018
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (JUNE 25, 2018) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 39-YEAR-OLD EXPAT FROM AUSTRALIA BELINDA AUSTIN PREPARING FOOD FOR HER CHILD IN HER RENTED PROPERTY IN J RESIDENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 39-YEAR-OLD EXPAT FROM AUSTRALIA, BELINDA AUSTIN, SAYING: "In 2014 there were two murders that happened in the building, same person murdered two ladies. When we found out about it, we were quite shocked, because there is not a lot of crime in Hong Kong. So we were certainly concerned, but obviously, that could happen anywhere. So we decided to stay in the building." AUSTIN WALKING TO SOFA, SITTING DOWN, PICKING UP A MAGAZINE AND STARTING TO READ VARIOUS OF AUSTIN READING MAGAZINE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 39-YEAR-OLD EXPAT FROM AUSTRALIA, BELINDA AUSTIN, SAYING: "There certainly is an issue in Hong Kong with distressed properties after crime, and we took advantage of that by being able to negotiate some discount on our lease, when we renewed post the murders, so we got about a 15 percent discount after that." HONG KONG, CHINA (JUNE 27, 2018) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HONG KONG RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT (SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG RESIDENT, JONI HO, SAYING: "Of course, I wouldn't like it, to live in a haunted house. But I don't care as much as the older generations to live in a haunted house, because I think, like, people come and people die. It happens every day, like - would you be afraid to go into a hospital, you wouldn't, right? So I think it's okay." PEOPLE WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG RESIDENT, KIN HO, SAYING: "Property prices in Hong Kong, especially for young people, I think, are ridiculously high, I think specially for the space you get. Just, people coming straight out of college, first it's difficult to find a job for them, and I think, with the amount they get paid, it's difficult to find a place that they'll like." VARIOUS OF HONG KONG RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
- Embargoed: 11th July 2018 10:06
- Keywords: Property Real estate Haunted houses Hong Kong
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Living / Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0068M8A9TX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ng Goon-lau is proud of his purchase - a 325 square foot (30 square metre) unit, with a dark, tiny bedroom in Hong Kong, one of the most expensive cities to live in.
It has a window that is small and easily sealed. A man once burned charcoal and inhaled the carbon monoxide fumes to kill himself. Another tenant, a policewoman, hanged herself in the same apartment.
"That's why it was so cheap," said Ng, the silver-haired 66-year-old landlord, who bought the tiny unit with the double suicides for just over HK$1 million ($127,400) in 2010, 30 percent less than the market rate then. Eight years later, the apartment is probably worth around HK$4.4 million ($560 million), just 20 percent less than the market rate, Ng estimates.
Dubbed the "King of Haunted Flats" by local media, Ng has made a name for himself for speculating on such "hongza", or "haunted flats" in Cantonese - defined here as the places where tragedies, such as suicides and murders, took place. He has been able to buy some of the homes at as much as a 40 percent discount.
But Hong Kong's record-breaking property price surge over the past few years is pushing many to reconsider such inauspicious apartments as bargains too good to pass up, no matter the bad history.
The once heavy discount on the price of a haunted apartment has narrowed from about 30 percent in 2013, to about 10 percent this year, said Ng, adding the discount dropped at the fastest rate in the past year.
There are unofficial websites dedicated to keeping detailed records of the thousands of "haunted flats" in the city, such as startup home search app Spacious. The team goes through local media reports to collect the data.
Hong Kong property agents aren't legally obliged to disclose if unnatural deaths took place in the flats, but they are bound by a code of ethics under the city's Estate Agents Authority, and could lose their license if they don't.
It is commonly believed in Chinese superstition that the trapped souls of murder victims are especially haunted, as they linger in the human world, mourning their untimely deaths. Not only does a haunted flat drag down the price of all the flats on the same floor, it can also bring down the value of apartments above and below it, according to property agents.
A flat a few doors down from the luxury apartment where former British banker Rurik Jutting murdered two women in 2014 was sold last year. The price dropped six percent from its precious transaction in 2011, even though Hong Kong's housing market rose more than 80 percent during the same period.
Belinda Austin, a 39-year-old Australian expat, rents a place at J Residence, the same condo Jutting used to live. Upon renewing her lease after the murders, she says she was able to secure a 15 percent discount on the rent.
The financial hub's housing prices have been on a record-breaking run for 18 consecutive months, with the city now one of the world's most expensive real estate markets.
A skilled service worker would need to work 20 years to buy a 650 square-feet (60 square-metre) flat near the city centre, according to a UBS report in September, which also ranks Hong Kong's housing market as the least affordable in a list of 20 of the world's most populous cities.
Only about 20 percent of Hong Kong's 1.85 million taxpayers could afford to buy a medium-priced apartment costing HK$8 million ($1 million), property consultancy Knight Frank said this month. Property analysts expect prices to rise even further this year, with five analysts predicting overall gains of between 8 percent and 17 percent.
That means that living in 'haunted' homes for a discount is proving to be acceptable for many: "People come and people die. It happens every day," said local resident Joni Ho. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
