Yau Yat Chuen was at the centre of property-obsessed Hong Kong's universe recently, when No 62 Begonia Road, the site of a former boys' home, was sold for an impressive HK$579 million. That's HK$15,742 per buildable square foot, which, for those of you who are not familiar with such things, is a lot.
You may lump Yau Yat Chuen in with Kowloon Tong, but the residents of the leafy lanes that loop west of Tat Chee Avenue - movie star and TVB presenter Natalis Chan Pak-cheung among them - might disagree.
'One More Village' - yau yat chuen - was part of the jumble of squatter houses that spilled over from Shek Kip Mei. After the second world war it blossomed into a low-rise neighbourhood of European-style homes, like Kowloon Tong. With both neighbourhoods beneath the flight path to Kai Tak airport, high-rises were not an option - and won't be, at least legally, until the restrictions are lifted.
Relatively few of the houses that originally lined the 'flower streets' - they are named Peony, Osmanthus and Marigold, etc - still stand. Most have been torn down and replaced with small apartment blocks. Those that do remain fetch eye-popping prices. No 12 Wistaria Road, for example, sold for HK$150 million in February. The new owner is expected to knock down the 7,000 sqft building and replace it with a 10,000 sqft edifice.
Unlike fictitious Wisteria Lane, which is full of desperate housewives, not a lot happens on Wistaria Road. According to the South China Morning Post archives, only one thing of note has occurred on the road in the past 20 years; in 2007 a tree fell onto a cab. No one was injured.
'Yau Yat Chuen reflects the whole spectrum of the middle class,' Victor Chan Soon So, who covers the area for Midland Realty, says. 'If Yau Yat Chuen doesn't hold its value, you'll see a slide in the market right away.'
Kai Tak restrictions mean buildings are not permitted to rise above 10.6 metres, or three storeys over a car port - but many do.