Old Chinese Building vs Modern Design
There are lots of old design buildings throughout the city and they are inter-mingled with new design buildings. There can be significant difference in the rents for the two in the same locality. Sometimes, if somebody wants to live in a posh area (like Mid-Levels/Soho), they can choose to live in an old building to make it more affordable. One typical feature is a 'walk-up' building. These are buildings that have only stairs and no lifts due to their old design. They can run up to 5 floors and even 7 floors in some cases. The rents can come down tremendously for upper level floors and some good apartments can be found for a bargain (with free workout everyday).
Areas for Expats
A lot of expats live around Central District as that is where most of the MNC has offices. Some offices are located in Wan Chai and some even in the Kowloon side. Many westerners live in Mid-levels which can be a 15 minutes walk from the office. Mid-levels escalators which move down from 6:00 am to 10:00 am and go up from 10:20 am to midnight can help traveling up and down the hill for people living in the mid-levels. I have been living in mid-levels for the past 7 months and like it a lot personally as it's minutes away from my office in central. If I have an hour long lunch, I can sometimes even come home for lunch.
If you are looking for a larger apartment and more open spaces, you can consider moving to outskirts. Either move to the beach side in the south or you can move to the discovery bay, or even the new territories area (Tsing Yi or Tung Chung). These areas can provide better value for money. However, there can be an increased commute time.
How to Search?
The most common way to search for apartment is through brokers. There are many brokers with offices spread in almost all localities. Just pick up an MTR map. Mark out your office location and look for the places in the lines connecting directly to the office for best commute times. Over the weekend, just visit that location and go to the broker offices that you can easily find roaming around that area. They will show you some apartments and sometimes even ask you to sign as a proof that they showed you the place. Regular stuff.
However, searching through brokers might not be the smartest way to search for housing in Hong Kong. A better way is through Craigslist or ExpatForums. There are lots of fake ads also, but if one searches hard enough some good deals can be found, and sometimes even without brokerage which can save a lot of money.
Contract Period & Brokerage Fees
Typically the contracts are for 1 year long with 1 year extension possible after 1 year. However, this can be tweaked after negotiating with the landlord and the broker. For my case, there was a chance that I might leave Hong Kong after 7 months, so I negotiated for a contract that has an option to vacate after 7 months with a notice period of 1 month. Brokerage Fees is very standard. Half a month rent is paid by the landlord and half a month rent paid by the tenant. The brokers are typically helpful in getting repairs done. They will also take care of getting all the utility connections transferred in your name, which can save a lot of hassle. So, it's not such a bad deal to pay the brokers if they are good.
How much to spend on Housing?
As discussed above the rents can vary a lot and mostly remain on the expensive side for most of the people. Average household income in Hong Kong is HKD 20,000. However, a rent of HKD 8000 is as low as it can get. So, a lot of families spend more than 40% of the salary in rent. Target around 30-40% of the salary as rent and you should be able to save sufficient amount for other things (and there are lots of things to do in Hong Kong as we'll discuss later).
Things to keep in mind before finalizing a house
- Distance from the office for both you and your spouse or partner
- Distance from the grocery stores
- Distance from Sports Complex/Gym/Swimming Pool
- Distance from Schools
- Eating out places in the surroundings
