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. Chau also found the consequences were more far-reaching than many people had thought. 'The adverse effect is sometimes so strong that nearby buildings within the same estate were also affected,' he says, adding prices gradually rise the farther away people are from the horror home, whether vertically or horizontally. 'The incident has certainly affected prices,' says Eric Ng, who works for Yung Tee Property Agency, located in the shopping centre at the foot of Elizabeth House. 'The whole building has been affected.' Ng's colleague, Abby Weng, adds: 'Even now, when some people hear about the flat they don't want to live in this building. They won't normally try to barter the price down, they'll just reject the flat.' Weng rented A2 on the 26th floor to a Westerner five years ago. 'I told him about the history, but he didn't mind,' she says. The man was even prepared to stump up the market value - $13,000-a-month for the 623-square-foot flat. The flat is still believed to be rented, although no one was home on several visits. Other tenants in the block are getting a bargain. One tenant, a 30-something Chinese man, rented a renovated apartment on the same floor recently for $9,000-a-month. His landlord didn't tell him about the double murder just metres away, but he's unperturbed by the revelation. 'It doesn't bother me. I'm not superstitious,' he says. He has a mini-shrine immediately inside his front door. 'I thought it was a good deal.' Bigger bargains have been found elsewhere. At apartment 5G in Block 17 of the Tsuen Wan Centre, Tsuen Wan, six family members died in a murder-suicide pact in September 1996. A year later estate agents said the flat's price had dropped by 80 per cent. At flat B5, 16/F, Block Five, Plover Cove, Tai Po, a woman was killed by her husband's mistress, who chopped up and cooked the body. Two years after the 1993 murder, Chin's rented 400-square-foot flat was sold for about $500,000 - compared with a previous market price of $1.6 million. Perhaps most infamous is the flat at Telford Gardens, Kowloon Bay, where fung shui master Lu Yuhui murdered five people in 1998. The flat was later rented out to a family of four at a knockdown, but undisclosed, price. A Mrs Leung, who moved in next door, saved $1,500 on the usual $9,000 rent, while another neighbour bought a flat for $1.5 million - about $500,000 below market price - in 1999. Mrs Leung said at the time that she cared more about the rent saving than the bad omens. Estate agent Weng says that while not all Chinese are superstitious, Westerners are far more likely to disregard a history of horror when flat-hunting. At University Heights on Kotewall Road, Mid-Levels, rumours of ghosts have abounded for years. A landslide there on June 19, 1972, claimed 67 lives. 'Some blocks are half-empty despite being renovated recently,' says Adam Wilson, who has lived in one of the $20,000-a-month flats for three years. 'Most tenants here are Westerners. I don't believe in ghosts, although some people who stayed here say they have had weird experiences. I think it's all nonsense.' Tim Arnold is equally dismissive. The 36-year-old media worker found a 1,000-square-foot flat in Taikoo Shing during the property boom for $18,000 a month. His landlady explained the rent was about $5,000 less than neighbouring flats because a previous tenant had killed himself there several years earlier and she had been unable to rent it since. 'It's all voodoo,' says Arnold. 'I'm not superstitious at all, so I didn't mind moving in. Of course, I didn't end up sharing the home with a ghost.' Some people do mind. In June 2000, after Wong Kwok-tung paid a $13,800 deposit for a 771-square-foot flat in Tanner Garden, North Point, his wife became uneasy about their new home and grew suspicious when a friend told her to 'take care'. After checking with estate agents she discovered a previous occupant had fallen to his death from the flat. They accused landlord Lee Chung-yin of concealing the death and decided against moving into the 'haunted' home. Lee refused to refund their deposit, so the couple took him to the Small Claims Tribunal. They finally reached an agreement out of court. In Hong Kong the onus is on estate agents and landlords to tell prospective buyers and tenants about any untimely deaths, including murder and suicide. Alex Tang, president of the Society of Hong Kong Real Estate Agents, says some unscrupulous agents fudge the issue when prospective tenants ask if the flat is 'dirty' - an opaque term meaning haunted, usually after a murder, suicide or other tragic incident. 'An agent sometimes takes the word 'dirty' at face value and says no,' reveals Tang. Anyone duped can complain to the Estate Agents Authority, which will hold a disciplinary hearing. Agents found to have withheld information likely to affect the price of the flat face punishment ranging from a reprimand or fine up to having their licence suspended or revoked. There is little excuse for an agent to plead ignorance. A Web site database listing 'haunted' flats has been in operation for three years, offering anyone a chance to check up on addresses. The site, hk-com pass.com, was set up by a former real estate agent surnamed Cheng for use by tenants, speculators and small to medium-sized agencies. He has 300 members who pay an annual fee of $330. One-off buyers can register for seven days for $13. 'Clients have a right to know whether flats are 'dirty',' says Cheng. 'My site can help them.' Chau says many banks have a secret blacklist of such properties and may refuse mortgages. 'It is common knowledge that banks have kept databases of blacklisted, risky properties, including where unnatural deaths have occurred,' he says. 'Mortgage applications for these properties are considered with extra caution.' To drive out evil spirits, residents can purify the place by sprinkling holy water from a Christian Church, he says. They can also try placing 108 incense sticks outside the flat and walk around them three times in a clockwise direction. If that fails, says Ma, residents have only one option left - to call in ghost-busters to perform an exorcism. HOUSES OF HORROR Block A, 27/F, Elizabeth House, Causeway Bay, March 31, 1984 Two Singaporean brothers - heirs to a fortune - are murdered in flat A2 and entombed in a concrete flower box after a kidnap plot went wrong. Average price drop attributable to the tragedy: 6.9 per cent Block D, Kornhill, February 21, 1988 A wife killed her businessman husband in flat 312, then chopped his body into seven pieces with an electric saw, boiled them and dumped them on a rubbish tip. Average price drop attributable to the tragedy: 6.6 per cent Block 6, Pierhead Garden, Tuen Mun, April 18, 1990 Three young sisters and their 35-year-old father died from knife wounds in an apparent murder-suicide in flat 24D. Average price drop attributable to the tragedy: 4.3 per cent Block Five, Plover Cove, Tai Po July 8, 1993 A barbecue-meat seller killed her lover's wife in flat B5 on the 16th floor, then chopped up the body and cooked the parts in the flat. Average price drop attributable to the tragedy: 7.6 per cent Block 17, Tsuen Wan Centre, Tsuen Wan, New Territories September 24, 1993 A mother and three children and two other relatives died from poisoning in a family murder-suicide in flat 5G. Average price drop attributable to the tragedy: at least 5 per cent Source: Professor KW Chau