https://www.scmp.com/rss/322924/feed See how Hong Kong architects and interior designers have tackled the challenges of renovating and remodelling flats of 500 square feet or less - the typical family flat size in space-challenged Hong Kong, in other words - and learn some of their tricks. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Peta Tomlinson Peta Tomlinson Hong Kong has long been infamous for its tiny living spaces. But small homes are becoming increasingly fashionable, with owners prioritising design and furnishings to ensure that comfort is not sacrificed. While affordability is still a factor in one of the world’s most expensive real-estate markets, designers say buyers of flats under 600 square feet are more willing than ever to splurge on their interiors. Alice Cheung, co-founder and creative director of abt design studio, cites a lingering... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3303075/how-hong-kongs-tiny-apartments-are-getting-luxury-makeover?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/design-interiors/article/3303075/how-hong-kongs-tiny-apartments-are-getting-luxury-makeover?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Mar 2025 08:15:12 +0000 Salina Li Salina Li The number of new-home buyers who have forfeited their deposits has jumped by nearly a fifth in the first half compared with the whole of last year amid a persistent slump in property prices, according to Centaline Properties Research. There were 149 forfeitures in the second quarter, compared with 159 in the first three months of the year, the Centaline data showed. The 308 forfeitures in the year’s first six months have already exceeded the 261 cases for 2023. The numbers swelled after... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3275149/hong-kong-property-buyers-willing-forfeit-deposits-pay-above-market-prices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3275149/hong-kong-property-buyers-willing-forfeit-deposits-pay-above-market-prices?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2024 05:39:08 +0000 Hong Kong apartments are notoriously compact, and yet we seem always to have more stuff to fit in them. How do one or more occupants accommodate all of life’s necessities without creating domestic chaos? Many ideas for living large in a tiny home are not new, but innovative tweaks can certainly enhance the outcome. Take underfloor storage. Stepping up to a platform with customised compartments underneath allows a horizontal wardrobe to be built in a bedroom that has little wall space to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3268068/how-interior-designers-make-micro-apartments-hong-kong-feel-bigger-they-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3268068/how-interior-designers-make-micro-apartments-hong-kong-feel-bigger-they-are?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jun 2024 05:15:09 +0000 Hong Kong surveyors have proposed a minimum size of 100 sq ft for subdivided flats as the government works to eliminate substandard housing, but experts have said the profession’s suggested area is barely sufficient for a single occupant. Lai Kin-kwok, a senior lecturer in the Felizberta Lo Padilla Tong School of Social Sciences at Saint Francis University, said the proposed dimensions were still cramped. “One hundred sq ft is a very minimum requirement in a sense that all the daily necessities... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3263274/100-sq-ft-too-small-minimum-subdivided-flats-hong-kong-experts-take-measure-controversial-problem?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3263274/100-sq-ft-too-small-minimum-subdivided-flats-hong-kong-experts-take-measure-controversial-problem?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 May 2024 12:46:07 +0000 CK Asset, the flagship property developer of tycoon Li Ka-shing, has slashed the price of some of the remaining flats at its project in the Northern Metropolis by almost a third compared with when it was first launched in 2021. The batch of 28 units – 14 flats and 14 garden duplexes – are part of #Lyos, a residential project in Hung Shui Kui in the New Territories. They will go on sale next Sunday, May 19. CK Asset has so far sold 298 of the 341 units that comprise the development, raking in... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3262498/hong-kong-property-ck-asset-offers-discounts-32-its-lyos-project-new-territories-pioneered-nano?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3262498/hong-kong-property-ck-asset-offers-discounts-32-its-lyos-project-new-territories-pioneered-nano?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 May 2024 12:30:17 +0000 Maximising the space in micro-apartments often means choosing one or more of the following approaches: creating multifunctional furniture; employing technology to shape-shift layouts; installing a mezzanine level, ceiling height permitting. Or, as a despairing Hong Kong homeowner once pointed out to me from a window of his dinky digs, using a van parked outside as a wardrobe. Former property agent Alice Zhang’s net 322 sq ft (29.9 square metre), one-bedroom flat in Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3261260/pinterest-driven-hong-kong-micro-apartment-full-sized-tub-roomy-shower-built-oven-design-duo-make-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3261260/pinterest-driven-hong-kong-micro-apartment-full-sized-tub-roomy-shower-built-oven-design-duo-make-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 May 2024 05:15:18 +0000 Homes in England are more cramped than those in New York City, according to new analysis that showed UK property offers the worst value for money in the developed world. The Resolution Foundation found that the UK has the oldest properties in Europe and English homes have less floor space than many international peers, notably Germany, France and Japan. With 38 square metres (409 sq ft) on average per person, London homes are even more cramped than those in New York City. In 2021, Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3256569/expensive-cramped-and-ageing-uk-homes-lag-behind-most-developed-world-research-finds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3256569/expensive-cramped-and-ageing-uk-homes-lag-behind-most-developed-world-research-finds?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2024 03:01:48 +0000 Incorporating a client’s favourite colour into a contemporary interior scheme can prove challenging for a designer. Happily for Christy Tang Ka-ki, creative director at MT Design, the preferred hue was avocado – a colour not only currently on trend, but also known for its soothing qualities. As London-based cultural historian Kassia St Clair writes in her 2016 book The Secret Lives of Colour, avocado is universally “shorthand for nature”, and following a ubiquitous reign in the 1970s, the author... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3254646/minimalist-hong-kong-apartment-has-avocado-shorthand-nature-colour-choice-renovation-plays-french?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3254646/minimalist-hong-kong-apartment-has-avocado-shorthand-nature-colour-choice-renovation-plays-french?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Mar 2024 03:15:10 +0000 In 2000’s Icelandic romcom 101 Reykjavik, the protagonist is shown enjoying a bath in his mother’s small, open-plan flat. As soon as he steps out, she drains the water and lowers a cushioned lid. Voilà: the living-room sofa. The seemingly inconsequential 20-second scene shocked Hong Kong architectural designer Gary Chang Chee-keung when he realised how many people squandered the space above something they might use only once a day. So when it came to installing a tub in his own home, in Sai Wan... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3221087/one-micro-apartment-24-set-ups-architects-home-so-functional-museum-recreated-it-soon-show-will-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3221087/one-micro-apartment-24-set-ups-architects-home-so-functional-museum-recreated-it-soon-show-will-be?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 May 2023 00:15:18 +0000 As “Asia’s World City”, Hong Kong is renowned for its high efficiency, which stems in part from its high-density development. But this also comes with shortcomings – epitomised by the city’s shoebox housing units and a residential property market that is the least affordable in the world. According to the 2021 population census, Hong Kong’s per capita living space is just 172 sq ft, much smaller than Tokyo’s 210 sq ft and Singapore’s 270 sq ft. The difference is glaring when we compare it with... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3220209/heydey-nano-flats-hong-kong-may-be-ending-more-housing-progress-needed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3220209/heydey-nano-flats-hong-kong-may-be-ending-more-housing-progress-needed?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 May 2023 00:30:17 +0000 Even the smallest jewellery box can hold precious gems. That thought bubble hovered above early discussions involving the renovation of a newly bought seventh-floor flat in Tai Hang, on Hong Kong Island. With a footprint of only 470 sq ft (about 390 sq ft – 36 square metres – net), the unit might have been lacking in space, but, it was hoped, it could shine from inside, especially with an upgrade of the good number of windows. That the stand-alone, roughly 30-year-old building had one flat per... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3216081/chic-urbane-hong-kong-studio-apartment-where-even-light-switches-are-luxe-clever-work-home-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3216081/chic-urbane-hong-kong-studio-apartment-where-even-light-switches-are-luxe-clever-work-home-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Apr 2023 04:45:16 +0000 Many Hongkongers feel they can never have too much home storage. Not Kenneth Yuen and Sabrina Jensen, who were happy to reduce cupboard space in their new flat after buying an apartment smaller than the one they had been renting. A larger living area was the reward. “We didn’t really have to downsize as we seem to have fewer things compared to other people,” says Jensen, who works in the beauty industry. “We also don’t like clutter.” The couple had been living in Wan Chai and loved the location... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3207928/we-wanted-lighter-more-airy-place-micro-apartment-hong-kong-remodelled-maximise-space-and-let-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3207928/we-wanted-lighter-more-airy-place-micro-apartment-hong-kong-remodelled-maximise-space-and-let-more?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jan 2023 04:50:08 +0000 Divergent responses to recent property launches suggest buyers in Hong Kong have started preferring larger flats, following a relaxation of mortgage rules and as the market remains soft. The sales of nano flats, or homes measuring 200 square feet (18.6 square metres) or less, have declined of late. In 2019, 642 such flats sold for a total of HK$2.3 billion (US$293 million), according to Dataelements, a data provider that tracks new residential properties in Hong Kong. Last year, only 307 were... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3184914/hong-kongs-nano-flats-does-falling-demand-point-end-container-size-abodes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3184914/hong-kongs-nano-flats-does-falling-demand-point-end-container-size-abodes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Jul 2022 00:30:16 +0000 When lawyer and part-time journalism lecturer Polly Hui Fung-yi first viewed the 500 sq ft (46 sq m) flat in SoHo, on Hong Kong Island, that she and her partner would eventually purchase, it was outdated. Not only that but it included three small bedrooms along one side of the layout and a bathroom in the middle. What persuaded them to buy was the realisation that if they removed all the internal walls, light from several large windows would brighten the entire flat – not always a given in an... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3179040/how-500-sq-ft-hong-kong-apartment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3179040/how-500-sq-ft-hong-kong-apartment?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 May 2022 04:49:18 +0000 Henderson Land Development sold 51 units out of 138 on offer at the residential project The Quinn Square Mile in Tai Kok Tsui on Sunday, according to the developer, as price-sensitive buyers snapped up small-sized flats amid a pickup in new project launches from developers over the past week. Most of the units sold by 6pm were one-bedroom flats and studios, according to property agents, with the majority of buyers being end users younger than 30 years old. Agents expected about 60 per cent of... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3176183/price-sensitive-buyers-snap-51-units-quinn-square-mile-tai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3176183/price-sensitive-buyers-snap-51-units-quinn-square-mile-tai?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 May 2022 13:00:24 +0000 The first plot of land earmarked for residential flats that must be at least 280 sq ft has failed to attract bids not because of the government’s new minimum size requirement but rather due to the site’s constraints and prevailing market uncertainties in Hong Kong, analysts have told the Post. The large site in Tuen Mun was viewed as a gauge of the industry’s response to the government’s drive to stop the proliferation of shoebox homes, known as “nano flats”. Authorities on Tuesday rejected all... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3175732/governments-rejection-bids-tuen-mun-site-unrelated?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3175732/governments-rejection-bids-tuen-mun-site-unrelated?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Apr 2022 13:54:42 +0000 The popularity of tiny homes took a beating last month after the Hong Kong government relaxed mortgage rules, bringing larger homes within reach of first-time buyers. Only 92 small flats, under 280 square feet, were transacted on the secondary market between March 1 and 28, some 24 per cent lower than February, according to Ricacorp Properties. The average price eased 0.7 per cent to HK$4.03 million, bringing the decline from its May 2021 peak to 4.8 per cent. The decline in sales and prices of... https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3173003/hong-kong-buyers-give-nano-flats-wide-berth-buyers-armed-larger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3173003/hong-kong-buyers-give-nano-flats-wide-berth-buyers-armed-larger?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Apr 2022 01:30:10 +0000 Two minutes into an inspection of the first property on her list, first-home buyer Emma Maclean knew this was the one. The third-floor flat in Sheung Wan, on Hong Kong Island, broke one of her self-imposed golden rules: nothing below the fifth floor. But the building’s being set back from the street meant there wasn’t the traffic noise Maclean had feared – just the happy sounds of children larking about in the adjacent playground. And the flat had light – lots of it – courtesy of bay windows on... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3171479/how-smart-interior-design-gave-420-sq-ft?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3171479/how-smart-interior-design-gave-420-sq-ft?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2022 05:00:18 +0000 Hong Kong’s government will raise the amount of mortgages available in home loans to help more residents in the city’s pandemic-stricken economy get on the property ladder and forestall a market slump. Starting from February 23, the available mortgages on homes with a loan-to-value ratio of 80 per cent will increase to a maximum of HK$12 million (US$1.54 million) from HK$10 million, according to the fiscal 2022/23 budget presented by Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po. First-home buyers who... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3168092/budget-2022-2023-hong-kong-opens-funding-tap-make-more-mortgage-loans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3168092/budget-2022-2023-hong-kong-opens-funding-tap-make-more-mortgage-loans?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Feb 2022 10:30:15 +0000 The era of nano flats in Hong Kong is likely to end soon. The availability of such flats is set to peak this year, after the government put a cap on the minimum size of homes late last year, say market observers. A total of 2,015 nano flats, with a saleable floor area of 215 square feet or less, are expected to be ready this year, compared with 960 units in 2021, according to JLL. These include 418 units at The Royale in Tuen Mun, 380 units in Manor Hill in Tseung Kwan O and 288 units at The... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3166274/hong-kongs-supply-so-called-nano-flats-peak-year-government-puts-minimum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3166274/hong-kongs-supply-so-called-nano-flats-peak-year-government-puts-minimum?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Feb 2022 23:30:21 +0000 Hong Kong’s notoriously tiny flats are likely to endure and withstand the minimum size ordered by the city authorities, as affordability remains the biggest challenge for many first-home buyers struggling to get on the first rung of the property ladder. The 280-square feet (26 square metres) minimum stipulated this week on new projects built on government land would wipe out many flats priced below HK$6 million (US$769,400), which are eligible for up to 90 per cent mortgage financing, pushing... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3161704/hong-kongs-blight-nano-flats-will-withstand-minimum-size-rule?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3161704/hong-kongs-blight-nano-flats-will-withstand-minimum-size-rule?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Dec 2021 09:05:55 +0000 Hong Kong’s transactions of new residential property may rise 15 per cent next year as buyers continue their demand in every segment of the market from 138-square foot micro-apartments to 4,500-sq ft mansions on The Peak, according to one of the city’s largest real estate agencies. Up to HK$280 billion (US$36 billion) of new homes may find buyers in 2022, marking the second year that annual transactions have risen, amid the bull run in the residential property market, according to Centaline... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3160872/2022-property-outlook-super-size-mansions-nano-flats-and-home-offices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3160872/2022-property-outlook-super-size-mansions-nano-flats-and-home-offices?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:30:21 +0000 A weekend sale of tiny flats in Hong Kong’s New Territories got off to a brisk start, auguring well for the proposed Northern Metropolis residential enclave near the city’s northern border with Shenzhen. CK Asset Holdings sold all 200 apartments through open sales in the first batch of sales at its #Lyos project in Hung Shui Kiu as of 8:30pm, with more than 7,500 registrations of interest, translating to 36 bids for every available unit, while 20 flats were reserved for sale by tender. The... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3155125/thousands-buyers-vie-ck-assets-lyos-flats-hung-shui-kiu-auguring-well-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3155125/thousands-buyers-vie-ck-assets-lyos-flats-hung-shui-kiu-auguring-well-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Nov 2021 11:15:39 +0000 A real estate bull market in Hong Kong, the world’s most expensive major city for 10 consecutive years until 2019, has trickled over to inflate the prices of even the smallest habitable homes. The average cost of new micro-apartments, or flats smaller than 200 square feet (18.6 square metres), rose to HK$25,512 per square foot in the first nine months of 2021, according to Midland Realty’s data. That made the smallest homes more expensive than the HK$21,680 per sq ft average price of the typical... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3152796/hong-kongs-property-mania-inflates-prices-even-tiniest-flats-putting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3152796/hong-kongs-property-mania-inflates-prices-even-tiniest-flats-putting?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Oct 2021 00:30:14 +0000 Hong Kong’s biggest developers are joining the rush to build small flats to woo young buyers as prices in the world’s most expensive housing market approach an all-time high. The move is being criticised by a senior adviser to Beijing for its profit motive. Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) plans to build 5,400 units in Sai Kung, with the smallest featuring a usable floor area of about 88 square feet (8.2 square metres), according to a filing with the Buildings Department. In Kowloon, a consortium... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3149652/sun-hung-kai-properties-wheelock-among-developers-rushing-build-small?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3149652/sun-hung-kai-properties-wheelock-among-developers-rushing-build-small?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Sep 2021 01:30:17 +0000 A weekend launch of micro apartments sold out in Hong Kong, as first-property buyers snapped up the only new flats available for less than HK$5 million, days after home prices broke records in the world’s least affordable real estate market. Wang On Properties sold all 143 units offered for sale at The Met.Azure project in Tsing Yi, with 13 buyers bidding for every available flat in a project that’s about 25 minutes’ walk to the local subway station. The entire project, scheduled for completion... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3145064/wang-sells-all-143-small-flats-metazure-tsing-yi-fear-missing-out-fuels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3145064/wang-sells-all-143-small-flats-metazure-tsing-yi-fear-missing-out-fuels?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Aug 2021 11:30:22 +0000 “Terrible, really badly designed,” was the blunt assessment of designer Wesley Liu Yik-kuen when he first saw the 313 sq ft microflat in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town that he had been hired to renovate. “It was much smaller than I thought it would be,” says Liu, the co-founder of Interiors No.3 and founder of PplusP Designers, with the four-room apartment feeling poky and dingy, despite having a balcony and stunning sea views. The owners, a couple in their 30s who still live with their respective... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3143650/tricks-help-maximise-storage-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3143650/tricks-help-maximise-storage-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Aug 2021 01:30:14 +0000 Hong Kong officials have a real knack of making us do a double take. A recent “I beg your pardon” moment came last week when Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung announced that the suspension of face-to-face classes will continue until the Lunar New Year break, though limited half-day in-person classes will be allowed. In particular, Primary Six pupils can return to take exams. Yeung must be aware of the stress students, teacher and parents are facing during this “new normal”, when... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3116984/how-hong-kong-school-suspensions-and-nano-flats-reflect-government?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3116984/how-hong-kong-school-suspensions-and-nano-flats-reflect-government?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Jan 2021 22:45:21 +0000 As an architect, I found the article “Designing for the recovery” (September 2) in the Property Matters section of the Post disturbing because it focused on the post-lockdown thoughts of architects working at the high end of the property market. Most of humanity does not live in these high-end properties. Most people struggle to afford such lifestyles and we live in an age in which property is just another commodity traded by investors. Our cities old and new are the result of some developers’... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3101958/architecture-post-coronavirus-era-must-focus-needs-many?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3101958/architecture-post-coronavirus-era-must-focus-needs-many?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Sep 2020 17:10:11 +0000 During the pandemic, homes have been serving as makeshift workplaces, schools, gyms, playgrounds and social spaces, on top of their primary purposes. We asked three design professionals what lessons have been learned from lockdown, and how those experiences might impact house design in the future. Architect Marion Baeli, partner at PDP London, believes the pandemic can be a wake-up call for the profession and society at large. While flexibility and adaptability are two characteristics that have... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3101491/luxury-housing-projects-london-and-new-york-combine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3101491/luxury-housing-projects-london-and-new-york-combine?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Sep 2020 11:00:15 +0000 Redesigning a 410 sq ft flat to accommodate four people comfortably is a challenge. Making it look clean and spacious raises the bar even higher. That’s why storage, storage, storage constituted the brief received by architecture studio Absence from Island’s Tang Chi-chun. “The clients were craving flexible layouts and ample amounts of storage space,” he says. The owners of the Tseung Kwan O flat, bought last year, also had particular needs. In his role at an advertising agency, Martin So... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3097765/hong-kong-flat-410-sq-ft-and-home-four-you?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3097765/hong-kong-flat-410-sq-ft-and-home-four-you?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Aug 2020 01:30:15 +0000 Aside from the practical challenges of living in a limited number of square feet, living in tinier spaces has never been trendier. But as designing for smaller spaces can be perplexing, we sat down with renowned British interior designer Katharine Pooley, who is known for her bespoke designs for super-rich clients in China, Kuwait, Qatar and the UK, to hear some of her top tips. Why Chinese buyers love luxury homes in historic London buildings  Some five-minute fixes Pooley advises going for a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3092965/feeling-cramped-home-top-interior-designer-tells-us-how?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3092965/feeling-cramped-home-top-interior-designer-tells-us-how?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jul 2020 08:33:57 +0000 Smartphones may be one of the main ways we watch video today, but we all know that movies look better on the big screen – and the bigger, the better. For a long time, projectors were a luxury option for those of us with the room to dedicate to a home cinema. Now they are at last becoming affordable and – just as importantly – more practical for use in small and shared spaces. You can spend as much as you want, but an excellent big-screen picture of 80 inches or more can now be had for less than... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/gadgets/article/3074630/home-cinema-five-things-look-when-you-buy-projector-including?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/gadgets/article/3074630/home-cinema-five-things-look-when-you-buy-projector-including?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Mar 2020 10:00:15 +0000 The boom in Hong Kong’s micro-apartments appears to be over, as the first easing in mortgage entitlements in a decade has helped buyers to afford larger homes, causing at least one developer of shoebox-sized property to quit the market. Micro-apartments, defined as those smaller than 200 square feet (18.6 square metres), are unsustainable as investments, and are the most prone to any declines in property prices, said Rykadan Capital, the developer that recorded HK$390 million of sales from 66... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3038252/hong-kongs-higher-mortgage-cap-deters-least-one-developer-building-micro?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3038252/hong-kongs-higher-mortgage-cap-deters-least-one-developer-building-micro?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Nov 2019 00:00:07 +0000 Tired of news about Hong Kong’s protests, Donald Trump’s presidency or persistent worries about a recession in 2020? Consider an island property in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, where property is still cheap, foreign interest is growing and taxes on real estate are still favourable to non-residents. While most people may think an island property is for the billionaire set only, Nova Scotia offers private islands larger than Hong Kong’s Victoria Park for less than the purchase price of a... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3038195/nova-scotia-beckons-real-estate-comprising-entire-islands-purchase-price?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3038195/nova-scotia-beckons-real-estate-comprising-entire-islands-purchase-price?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Nov 2019 23:00:08 +0000 Living in a flat before you renovate it means you know exactly what needs to be done. Originally from Taiwan, Eric Lin Sin-han and Lory Chen Li-wen had been in their two-bedroom, one-bathroom Tung Chung apartment for six years when they decided it was crying out not only for an update but some serious rearranging, too. More storageand accommodation for two extra people were top of their list. The sticking point? They had only 492 sq ft to play with.  “The design phase took six months because... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3035317/feng-shui-and-hi-tech-work-perfect-harmony?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3035317/feng-shui-and-hi-tech-work-perfect-harmony?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Oct 2019 10:45:09 +0000 It was only a garlic press – 20cm of stainless steel and lighter than a tennis ball. Yet Atiqah Nadiah Zailani deliberated for days over whether to buy it. The cooking utensil could easily fit in a drawer or hang on a kitchen hook, but the NGO worker was downsizing. Atiqah, 32, was moving from her spacious family apartment in Kuala Lumpur to a 300 sq ft home she had built in a forest on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. She is among a growing number of proponents of the “tiny house... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3030528/tiny-homes-how-hong-kongs-reality-became-hipster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3030528/tiny-homes-how-hong-kongs-reality-became-hipster?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Sep 2019 09:59:39 +0000 Shopping for an interior designer can be as simple as, well, shopping. Art director and graphic designer Ivan Au and his illustrator wife, Choily Choi, found exactly what they wanted while moseying around Galleon lifestyle store, in Causeway Bay. “I really liked the style of the store, so I asked a friend to find out who designed it,” Au says. The friend obliged and so Au met Wilson Lee Hing-yin and Emily Ho, of Studio Adjective, who would design the couple’s new 408 sq ft rooftop flat, in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3030118/creative-couples-tiny-hong-kong-flat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3030118/creative-couples-tiny-hong-kong-flat?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Sep 2019 10:15:14 +0000 A flat at The Garrison in Hong Kong’s Tai Wai that sold in July 2018 for HK$4.4 million (US$563,000) has been put on the market for rent at HK$13,500 per month, even before its owner took possession of the 201 square-foot (18.7 square metres) micro apartment. The yield, at 3.7 per cent, tops returns on rental properties across the city, partly explaining why demand persists for abodes comparable in size to a standard Hong Kong car parking space (12.5 square metres, or 134 sq ft), even if they... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3019710/micro-apartments-are-still-popular-because-their-rental-yields-top-average?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3019710/micro-apartments-are-still-popular-because-their-rental-yields-top-average?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jul 2019 00:00:07 +0000 Mainland property developers that arrived late to Hong Kong are discovering not everything always ends well when it comes to risk taking in the world’s least affordable market for home ownership. Chinese developer Jiayuan International Group appears on track for a slim profit or even a loss in its first residential property investment in the city. The developer gave discounts of up to 37.6 per cent at T-Plus, a residential development in Tuen Mun featuring “micro homes”. Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/3019049/developer-some-hong-kongs-smallest-abodes-may-have-sold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/3019049/developer-some-hong-kongs-smallest-abodes-may-have-sold?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jul 2019 16:00:14 +0000 The developer of a micro flat project in Hong Kong has cut the price of flats that are smaller than a car parking space by 38 per cent, after managing to sell only two units during the initial launch in December. Prices were unveiled on Thursday for 36 flats at the T-Plus project in Tuen Mun, jointly developed by ­Jiayuan International Group and Stan Group,starting at HK$1.73 million (US$222,200), which makes it the cheapest property in the city since CK Asset Holdings sold 165 sq ft units at... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3017317/prices-micro-flats-t-plus-tuen-mun-slashed-38-cent-developer-looks-lure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3017317/prices-micro-flats-t-plus-tuen-mun-slashed-38-cent-developer-looks-lure?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jul 2019 23:30:11 +0000 Who wants to sleep on a sofa, shower next to the laundry and cook above a toilet bowl, all crammed into a shoebox cubicle, but still pay a few thousand dollars a month? Such pitiful living space has no place in an affluent city such as Hong Kong. Sadly, many poor families have no choice but to dwell in units partitioned inside a standard flat. These so-called subdivided flats are not just inhumane, they are often illegally carved up and pose fire hazards and structural safety risks. But with an... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3009430/greater-effort-needed-rich-city-fight-against-flats-squalor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3009430/greater-effort-needed-rich-city-fight-against-flats-squalor?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 May 2019 14:08:00 +0000 Three weeks into his new job as a graduate trainee, Adriel Tjokrosaputro overslept. At 10am, he made a frantic call to his supervisor at a commercial real estate company to explain the situation. “I told him I don’t get any sunlight in my cabin, which was why I didn’t know it was already daytime,” the 25-year-old recalls. For less than HK$3,500 (US$450) a month, the Indonesian rents a windowless bed space in Mong Kok. Measuring about two metres in length, one metre across and one metre in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2187375/why-more-young-people-are-opting-co-living-spaces-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2187375/why-more-young-people-are-opting-co-living-spaces-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Feb 2019 00:02:47 +0000 Mainland China-based small apartment developer Jiayuan International Group surged by 21.9 per cent in a few minutes after it resumed trading on Wednesday afternoon in Hong Kong, following a stock filing that clarified how much of its stock had been pledged as collateral for loans by its chairman. The stock closed 6.22 per cent higher at HK$3.9 on Wednesday. In the filing, Jiayuan said Chairman Shum Tin Ching had reported that he and an entity registered in the British Virgin Islands he controls... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2184274/developer-jiayuan-surges-219-cent-hong-kong-after-chairman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2184274/developer-jiayuan-surges-219-cent-hong-kong-after-chairman?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Jan 2019 06:55:48 +0000 Bigger is not always better when it comes to housing. Property developers have conditioned us to believe that upscaling will boost our status, open up possibilities and, as a result, make us happier. But there is no evidence that laying out more cash for extra floor area does anything other than increase costs. It makes more sense to live sustainably and within means, as Hongkongers who migrate to Western countries quickly find out. Initially, they are dazzled by the scale and prospects, by... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2181962/americas-large-family-homes-may-be-waste-space?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2181962/americas-large-family-homes-may-be-waste-space?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Jan 2019 18:00:21 +0000 The hotel that CK Asset Holdings will convert into a dense housing estate would provide homes to 7,500 people in the New Territories by as early as 2022, according to consultants hired by the company. The redevelopment of the 1,100-room Harbour Plaza Resort City hotel in Tin Shui Wai into two residential towers with 5,000 flats would cater to three times the number of people than the hotel could. But the expected population increase, said traffic advisers of the project CTA Consultants, would... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2181427/ck-assets-planned-hotel-housing-project-hong-kong-aims-house-7500?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2181427/ck-assets-planned-hotel-housing-project-hong-kong-aims-house-7500?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Jan 2019 01:04:23 +0000 For the past seven years, dimly lit internet cafes in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong’s poorest district, were homes to 50-year-old Hung (not his real name). He spent every evening browsing the web at such establishments for movies and songs of the 80s, before hunkering down for the night. “These songs and films remind me of the better days of my youth. Without them, I’ve got nothing but painful memories,” he says. As a young man in his 20s, Hung developed a gambling problem. At the time, he had lost... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2178965/hk55-night-hong-kongs-invisible-homeless-or-working-poor-turn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2178965/hk55-night-hong-kongs-invisible-homeless-or-working-poor-turn?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Dec 2018 04:00:28 +0000 Hong Kong’s infatuation with micro-apartments, some of which hold the world record as the smallest living space constructed for humans, has ended almost as quickly as it began. Known variously as nano flats, micro-apartments and shoebox homes, these abodes are specifically designed to be small, typically less than 200 square feet (18.6 square metres) in size. Two of every three of these homes built in Hong Kong since 2016 were constructed this year. Of these 976 units that were added, 461 units... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2179067/hong-kongs-infatuation-multimillion-dollar-shoebox-homes-over-quickly-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2179067/hong-kongs-infatuation-multimillion-dollar-shoebox-homes-over-quickly-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Dec 2018 00:00:30 +0000 Speculative demand over Hong Kong’s shoebox flats – each smaller than the size of a standard car parking space – appears to be over as quickly as it sprouted, following the decline in the city’s median home price. Agents managed to sell only two of the 73 units on offer at the T-Plus project in Tuen Mun, each at around 130 square feet (12 square metres), with a price tag starting at HK$2.85 million (US$364,600), prompting the developer to close the sales launch early. Today’s sales result was... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2177029/hong-kongs-building-boom-tiny-flats-fizzles-out-t-plus-tuen-mun-gets-cold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2177029/hong-kongs-building-boom-tiny-flats-fizzles-out-t-plus-tuen-mun-gets-cold?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Dec 2018 05:46:17 +0000 Micro flats, once all the rage in Hong Kong because of their affordability, would bear the brunt of the city’s property price slump, said an executive of CK Asset Holdings, one of the city’s biggest developers. Executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung forecast that prices for tiny flats could tumble as much as 30 per cent next year as demand dries up. Chiu said “in his personal view” that prices of such units, with a size of less than 200 square feet or smaller than a car park space, would... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2176586/hong-kong-micro-flats-will-bear-brunt-price-slump-says-ck-asset-executive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2176586/hong-kong-micro-flats-will-bear-brunt-price-slump-says-ck-asset-executive?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2018 00:02:42 +0000