Showing is always better than telling.
Everyone — Coconuts HK included — has told you that Hong Kong’s housing crisis is out of control, with landlords flogging tiny flats for extortionate rents.
But just how bad things are getting might sink in a bit more clearly if this time we show you the end product of what is truly becoming a preposterous housing market.
This little 40-square-foot shoebox room in a sub-divided flat near Yau Ma Tei MTR station came on the market yesterday.
It is practically an air-conditioned cupboard, with a sofa chair that turns into a single bed, positioned right up against a toilet and sink.
And it could be yours for HK$2,900 (US$371) per month.
Unless you have pets, that is. Those aren’t allowed, presumably because there’s not enough oxygen for more than one life form at a time.
The flat is part of a sub-divided apartment in the Wah Tak Building, on Waterloo Road in Yau Ma Tei.
A sub-divided apartment is one in which a single flat has been divided into two or more original rooms, with tenants typically sharing facilities like the toilet.
It was listed yesterday on property website 591.com.hk, which caters to both buyers and renters.
The room was posted by a landlord identified only as “Miss Milky Wong,” and as of today more than 180,000 people have seen the listing.
Wong did not respond to questions fielded by Coconuts HK about the unit, and judging by the messages left under the listing, she is also refusing to answer questions from people about the flat.
Some of them have been practical: “How do you bathe?”
Some, not so much.
“You motherf*****! You call yourself a landlord? You’re charging HK$2,900 for this? F*** you!”
