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The term ‘nano flat’ has never been officially defined, but it is generally understood as flats with a saleable area smaller than 20 sq m (equivalent to 215 sq ft), or a saleable floor area smaller than 15 sq m (equivalent to 161 sq ft).
FactWire visited T-Plus in May, when all the studio flats had already been sold or rented out. An owner invited us to her 168 sq ft flat in its final stage of renovation.
As our reporter stepped into the flat, to their left was a windowless toilet and directly in front of them was a rectangular-shaped living–cum–dining room. About one-third of the room was occupied by a three-foot-wide bed.
Adjacent to the bed was an open kitchen. Its working table was barely able to contain a sink and an induction cooker. In order for the washing machine to fit into this limited space, the sink was not even three inches deep.
A balcony at the end of the room was the only source of natural light as there was no other window in this entire flat. “The flat is too small for couples,” said the owner who spent about HK$ 2.7 million purchasing this off-plan property for her own use.
“It is hard for even a slightly fatter person to enter. The toilet bowl is too close to the sink and I must be careful to avoid bumping my head against it,“ she said.
In order to make nano flats look more spacious, water heaters and aircon pipes are often installed inside the walls, rendering them more difficult to repair. Some electronics, like the kitchen hood and induction cooker, are also pre-fixed into certain positions.