Skyhigh rental in Hong Kong

It took me more than 2 years to not choke on the asking price here.  Compared to the States, the prices here are out of this world.  Let's talk about rentals first, it's an active market...

For the popular towns, i.e. Soho, Mid-levels, Wanchai, Sheung Wan, Happy Valley, Tai Hang, The Peak, the South side, Repulse Bay, Stanley, Tai Tam, Shouson Hill, ICC area, Sai Kung.....On average, will cost you an average of $40K or up for a 1000sqft semi-decent/renovated flat.  Since Hong Kong has a lot of expats moving in and out of HK all year round, there is hardly a high or low seasons for the hotel/serviced apt/rental maket.  Most expat packages includes a housing allowance, which is part of the reason why there is such a big gap between the local income and the rental rate.  Locals wouldn't spend $200K to rent a flat, but when the money is coming from your company's account, what do you care ?

Expats area

Having been a full time relocation specialist and property agent for 2 years, I became very fluent in some of popular towns for expats. For the HK island, it's Soho, midlevels, Central, Sheung Wan, Wanchai, Happy Valley, the Peak, last but not the least, the south side. For Kowloon side, it's the ICC area, SaiKung, and now more Shatin and Tung Chung.

Here is how it usually goes, families with kids naturally loves the south side because the beaches and the space. Young singles likes to stick around work and Soho/Wanchai/Happy Valley. Young couples like midlevels for a little more space and yet still close to everything. Of course there are exceptions, but that's the general rules and most of the time, it just works out that way.

The most difficult home finding piece in HK is not the house hunting piece, it's actually the schooling piece, it may throw your schedule off, and ultimately, location of the schools narrow your search. To place your kids in a good school can be a frustrating experience, and it may take longer than you expected. Hence, you may have found a home you like, but you can't go for it yet since you are still waiting for the school admission process. Urgh !

HK Real Estate market is brutal

First off, HK people sell everything for a good price, may it be his or her own home. There are so many different types of agents out there, targeting different kind of customers and different properties. The don't have MLS here, so every company or agent has something up their sleeves which his colleague doesn't necessarily know about. Which means if you want to succeed in this business, not only you need a good client base, also a good agent network. So much more complicated than it is back in the States..