Opinion | Heyday of nano flats in Hong Kong may be ending, but more housing progress is needed
- With mortgage rules relaxed and more subsidised flats released, demand for small private flats has fallen, causing developers to start switching to mid-sized housing
- But for all Hongkongers to be able to ‘live bigger’, the land and housing shortage must be tackled at the root
According to the 2021 population census, Hong Kong’s per capita living space is just 172 sq ft, much smaller than Tokyo’s 210 sq ft and Singapore’s 270 sq ft. The difference is glaring when we compare it with Shenzhen’s 300 sq ft – nearly double that of ours.
Buyers snapped them up despite having to spend millions of Hong Kong dollars on a home that is often smaller than a typical car park space (130 sq ft). Ultimately, this is the consequence of the severe land and housing shortages in Hong Kong and the resulting demand-supply imbalances.
Against the backdrop of high housing prices, small flats – classed as those with a saleable floor area of 430 sq ft or below – have an edge in that they carry a lower price tag and down payment. Before the first quarter of 2020, small flats had a sell-through rate consistently above 90 per cent, a greater percentage of the small housing stock being sold than that of mid-sized units, which have a saleable floor area between 430 sq ft and 752 sq ft.
