Posted by
dobbym88
9 yrs ago
Hi there,
I am moving to Hong Kong from London in mid July and will be working in Admiralty.
I am having quite a lot of difficulty trying to find a flat/area i would like to rent within and am looking for some advice.
I completely understand the compromise in terms of space most have to accommodate, however from what i have seen most flats/house shares near central Hong Kong island are unbelievably small/cramped.
I am looking around a budget of $13,000 hkd for a double room in a shared flat or 1 bed and am looking to see what areas commutable within 30 mins offer more sq/ft in space/more green surroundings.
Thanks for any help in advance.
Mark
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You should consider the Wan Chai area, which is very close to Admiralty. You could probably walk to work every day or take the tram.
For HK$13,000 you shouldn't have much problems finding a "Shared" flat with a roommate that gives you pretty decent space (for HK standards). Let's assume the total monthly rental of that flat would be $26,000 (ie. 13k x 2 people). For that, your flat will probably be in the range of 600-800 sq feet NET in the Wan Chai area (depending on the building, condition of flat, etc).
If you live alone in a 1 bedroom, $13,000 will probably get you half of that 300-400 Net sq feet in space. And that's not in a new building, most likely a walkup or older building.
The other areas you should consider are Kennedy Town, Sai Ying Pun, and Tin Hau. Those areas are a bit cheaper and only a few stations away on the MTR.
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Hi,
My family and I only recently moved here. Barely a month. We're temporarily living in Kowloon but since we have kids will need to move to a bigger space.
I came across this blog and they have a list of places that are expat-friendly with rent comparison for a 2 bed flat. It's not the exact answer to what your asking ( sorry) but maybe you can get an idea of your options.
We're looking into The Midlands right now.
Here's the blog: http://villageinsurancedirect.com/blog/expat-guide-finding-place-live-hong-kong
Good luck with your move.
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Take a look at the Olympic Station area.
You can get a 1BR, or very small 2BR, in an older building for less than your budget.
But agents like Midland and Ricacorp will not have these. Only Centaline acts as agent for those buildings - and they will be reluctant to show them to expats.
You may need to try a smaller "local" agent
Expat oriented websites will contain statements like this:
"Average Monthly Rent for 2 bed, 1 bath apartment (870 sq. ft): HK$ 38,000 - HK$43,000"
It may be accurate for the more expat-oriented parts of HK Island, but if you try "thinking like a local" there are many more options
These types of websites were the same ones that were saying 2-3 years ago that: "You should by luxury properties in prime areas" - That advice proved to be poor, and it was the cheaper flats affordable by locals that have outperformed the over-priced money traps.
Have a look at some of the older threads here, and you will see how accurate my own comments on AX have been over the last several years
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That's brilliant, thanks a lot for the advice. I will have a look through again and hopefully it will work out.
Mark
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With that sort of budget, you may have to forget about "green surroundings",
unless you can accept a much longer commute
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We actually have an apartment in Wanchai that will be available for short term rental at end of July. We live in the US, but are spending the summer here. If you have not found anything yet, please let me know. (The apartment is newly renovated, two bedrooms, fully furnished and since we want to be able to use it next summer, I only want to rent it out for 9/10 months, and price is highly negotiable.)
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