Hong Kong home buyers not only face spiralling property prices, but also soaring management fees
Labour costs account for as much as 40 per cent of a management fee, while utilities are around 30 per cent of the total
Residential management fees in Hong Kong, considered high by global standards, are set to climb further in line with skyrocketing home prices in the city.
Wheelock Properties, for example, is raising the monthly charges at its 256-unit Peninsula East developement in Yau Tong by 17 per cent above initial estimates just before handing over the apartments to buyers next month.
In 2015, Wheelock had said the management fee at Peninsula East, where flat sizes range from 480 to 1,033 sq ft, would be HK$3.30 to HK$3.50 per sq ft. Now, buyers can expect to pay HK$4.10 per sq ft.
“The charge in 2015 was a projection,” Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu, managing director of Wheelock Properties, said on Tuesday. “As operation costs have risen due to higher inflation and staff costs are also higher, we believe HK$4.10 per sq ft is reasonable.”
Buyers of so-called “nano flats”, even in ordinary areas, are likely to incur high monthly management fees.
Monthly management fees at residences near Edition 178 range from HK$1.60 to HK$2.50 per sq ft, agents said.