Edit: A reader informed us that Luke Ng, quoted in the title and below, said “carpark space”, and not “cupboard space” as we originally thought. It seems like we were so eager to learn that we could afford anything at all in Central that we misheard. The article and the title have been corrected.
Any Hongkonger would have laughed in your face if you said you were looking to buy a decent apartment in Hong Kong for half a million U.S. dollars, or about HKD3.88 million. But we guess no one informed American media outlet CNBC of that sad fact when they embarked on a quest to find what exactly you could buy with that wad of cash, which would be pretty sizeable for any other real estate in the world.
On their aptly-named news show Reality Check, they did manage to find something and it’s not completely terrible: it’s a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 395-square-foot apartment. They went a little over budget though, as it was sold for USD517,000, or about HKD4 million, within 2 weeks of being put on the market. The video doesn’t say where the apartment is located, but we’re guessing it isn’t Soho.
The reporter goes on to state that the average Hong Kong household is unable to afford “the most modest of homes”.
Luke Ng, the CEO of Century 21 Hong Kong, says that half a million USD could get you a two-bedroom apartment in the New Territories, or a “carpark space in Central”. Lovely.
Video/Screenshot: CNBC
