SET AMID THE ever-changing vista of Causeway Bay's waterfront, the greying and decaying, sand-coloured turrets of Elizabeth House appear ever more non-descript. The tower blocks command a prime position with spectacular views overlooking the billionaires' yachts moored at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, but the building is no longer quite the des-res it was constructed to be 25 years ago. A busy overpass twists sharply around the building's front, an ugly, noisy concrete impediment to the structure's fung shui.
Between the ground-floor shops and restaurants are two drab entrances to the residential tower blocks above. Inside an equally indistinct lobby, an ageing lift grinds slowly up and down. On the dimly lit 26th floor, Flat A2 looks like any other, apart from its wooden door having been painted a brighter white than neighbouring entrances. It looks like any one of a million in the high-density housing that dominates the city. But Flat A2 is anything but ordinary.
On March 31, 1984 the next-door neighbour noticed a foul smell. She saw blood seeping from outside Flat A2's flowerbed. When police arrived they discovered the flowerbed had been cemented over. Inside were the bodies of two men, later identified as Singapore's most prominent goldsmiths, George Chia Soon Seng, 28, and Steven Chia Soon Huat, 32. The flamboyant brothers had been lured to the flat days earlier by kidnappers who demanded a ransom from their wealthy family. Although the ransom was paid in part, the victims were drugged and buried in a concrete tomb.
The 'Flowerbox Murders' were given sensational coverage in the local media, making Flat A2, Elizabeth House the least desirable address in the area. Perhaps more surprising is that all flats in the block, as well as the neighbouring towers in Elizabeth House, also dropped in value. What's more, almost 20 years later prices remain well under market value.
That is according to research by Professor Chau Kwong-wing of Hong Kong University's Department of Real Estate and Construction, who studied property transactions registered with the government. Taking out other variables that affect prices - such as floor size, age and market fluctuations - Chau concluded flats in the murder block at Elizabeth House have been trading an average of 6.9 per cent lower than if the murders had not taken place.
'In Chinese society a murder is believed to have a bad influence on the fung shui of the property and thus diminishes its market value,' says the professor. 'The more brutal the murder, the more restless the soul of the dead. The ghost will come back to visit the place they used to live. It will disturb and bring bad luck to the new occupants. Some people believe that the spirits of the murdered will disturb their neighbours as well.'
In what he believes is the first study of its kind, the academic researched the effect on property values of macabre murders during the past 20 years in five tower blocks. 'After the murder cases were revealed to the public, the price levels of all units within the same building declined,' says Chau. Prices dipped by between 4.3 per cent and 7.6 per cent and remained depressed years later. 'This implies that people have not forgotten about these incidents,' he says.