$877,000 parking spot a sign of times in Hong Kong
Property market run amok drives prices ever higher
HONG KONG— In many places, $877,000 can buy you a very nice house. For that price in Hong Kong, you can buy a slab of concrete, roughly17 feet long and11feet wide, to leave your luxury car. Hong Kong is now home to a very expensive parking spot, the latest sign of a property market run amok.
“This is basically the price of one flat in Hong Kong,” said Lennon Choy, an associate professor of real estate and construction at the University of Hong Kong. “This is crazy, actually.”
The buyer was listed as Kwan Wai- ming, whom local news outlets identified as executive director of the Huarong Investment Stock Corp.
The huge price paid for a single parking spot illustrates the broader rise in real estate values. While the run-up has enriched property owners and developers, it has led to widespread worries that a generation of young residents will be unable to afford a home. The unaffordability of housing played a role in protests three years ago and has spurred leaders to try to address the problem.
Such an expensive parking spot may seem excessive in a city where a passenger can cross Hong Kong Island for $1.70 on the subway.
But some wealthy residents revel in the recognition that comes with spending big. Last year, a licence plate carrying the number 28, which sounds like a phrase for “easy money” in Cantonese, sold for a record $3 million at auction.