This hotel executive has an instant solution to help tackle Hong Kong’s ‘outrageous’ home prices
Amending rules to permit the sale of hotel rooms, and allowing their long term rental, would significantly add to the city’s housing stock, easing the supply shortage
Hong Kong’s tourism downturn may provide an answer to the city’s housing problem if government amends its policy to allow hotel rooms to be put up for sale or for rental, helping to ease the housing supply shortage, according to a real estate investment executive.
Magnificent Hotel Investments chairman William Cheng Kai-ming has urged the government to amend policies to allow the sale or long term rental of hotel rooms, saying that it makes sense to tweak the rules in light of the high prices for homes and a structural change in the number of tourists visiting the city.
It is really outrageous. A tiny flat of 200 square feet or smaller will cost one’s life saving
Cheng said the recent buying frenzy for tiny flats, which saw prices of up to HK$25,000 per square foot, has helped to put a spotlight on the city’s stock of under-utilised hotel rooms.
“It is really outrageous. A tiny flat of 200 square feet or smaller will cost one’s life saving,” said Cheng, whose company owns 2,500 rooms in eight hotels, including several under the Best Western brand.
Last year Cheng’s company changed its name to Magnificent Hotel Investments from Magnificent Estates. Shares in the Hong Kong-listed company have fallen 19.4 per cent in the past year.
Residential units of less than 200 sq ft have drawn keen interest from buyers as home prices soar.
Among these projects, the smallest unit at AVA 62 in Jordan is just 151 sq ft. In North Point, One Prestige, developed by Henderson Land Development, offers flats of 163 sq ft. Henderson is selling another new project, Seven Victory Avenue in Ho Man Tin, which provides studios measuring 161 to 181 sq ft.