Leighton Hill is city's most expensive housing estate in Zeppelin survey

Leighton Hill in Happy Valley emerged as the most expensive housing estate in a survey by research institute Zeppelin.

Zeppelin surveyed transactions at 100 popular private-housing estates in the third quarter of last year, and ranked the prices from highest to lowest based on both gross floor area and saleable area.

Gross floor area is defined as the area contained within the external walls of a building, measured at each floor together with the area of each balcony. It includes common areas such as staircases, lift shafts, lobbies and common corridors. Saleable area comprises the floor area exclusively allocated to a flat, and excludes the common areas.

Leighton Hill topped the rankings in both categories, with average prices per square foot of HK$25,778 based on gross floor area, and HK$33,714 per square foot based on saleable area, according to Zeppelin managing director Stephen Chung, an analyst and chartered surveyor.

Estates with a lower efficiency ratio (the ratio between the saleable area and the gross floor area) would have a higher price ranking in the useable-area price category than in the gross-area price category, Chung said.