Moving to HK from US...looking for tips on permanent and temporary housing?

I'm moving from US to HK August 1. I've never been to asia or HK. I've done some research and talked to people and I think I would like to live in Central, Midlevels (not to far west), Soho, or possibly wanchai.


My budget for housing is approximately 25k per month. But obviously I'd be open to spending less.


I was thinking about doing temporary housing for a month till I get my bearings then doing something longer term, but I'm not sure how excited I would be to ever sign a 24 month lease (heard that's what most buildings have).


So I'm interested in:


1. what is the best way to find temporary housing? Do most serviced apartments do week to week and month to mont?


2. Is it true that most leases are 24 month?


3. What is the best way to get a shorter term lease or avoid broker fees? I've heard lease breaks, but I"m not sure what the best way to find them is other than by knowing people who are breaking their lease. Tips?


4. If anyone knows anyone breaking a lease in August/September in the areas I've listed above please let me know. I'd also be interested in buying furniture.


5. Besides lease breaks what's the best way to find permanent housing. Can you walk in to most of the larger apartments without a broker? Do they have rental offices? Should I just suck it up and use a broker i.e. do they provide some material benefit?


Thanks. Really appreciate any advice.

Best way to find a serviced apartment http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/property/serviced.asp


Most require minimum one month but a few have hotel licenses so can rent by the night


Most non-serviced apartments require a 24 month lease - but usually landlords will allow you to break without penalty after the first 12 months by giving two months notice


You can find comprehensive up to date property listings here http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/property/


If you need furniture this is the most popular classifieds in HK with well over 500 new ads being placed each day - you can find loads of top notch stuff at a fraction of the cost of new ... http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/classifieds/


Hope that helps!

Just to clarify the break clause mentioned by Ed. You can typically break after 12 months, at which point you can give 2 months notice. In other words the minimum time period is 14 months.


Many (most?) complexes do not have monolithic ownership. An apartment will be owned by an individual or a corporation that owns apartments in other blocks or the same block. For example, our complex has four blocks with fourteen apartments each. The apartments in two of the blocks are owned by one family. The apartments in the third block are owned by a corporation. The apartments in the fourth block have individual owners. So in many cases you can't just deal with the one office. Depends on the complex.


The advantage of a good broker, as I see it, is that he/she can show you a bunch of places based on your requirements. Unless you know which specific buildings you are interested in (and you probably won't since you haven't lived here yet), I find that it is better to be driven around by a broker.

You can basically start looking at sites while still in USA to get an idea of what to expect. There are many sites although not all of them are updated as often as they should be. Nonetheless, they are good enough to give you an idea of what to expect and if you're savvy, you can learn a lot from the ads.


hongkonghomes.com is one of them. There are many others...... Hopefully more expats will chime in.