HONG KONG: Hongkongers are feeling the squeeze as new “nano” flats measuring less than 200 sq ft are mushrooming around urban districts such as Wan Chai, Central and Western and Sham Shui Po, according to official figures. The government has also forecast that nearly half of all flats completed next year will be smaller than 400 sq ft in size.
Developers are building smaller homes while prices continue to soar. Four housing price indices by Centaline Properties hit historic highs this month. Developers completed 206 nano flats in 2016 out of a total of 15,595 homes across the city. That accounts for 1.4 per cent of new units, up from just 81 in 2013. The tiny flats are more popular in some districts than others – 10.8 per cent of all homes completed in Wan Chai last year were nano flats, the highest proportion in any district. Ryan Shum, Centaline’s marketing manager for Wan Chai, said nano flats were not a new phenomenon in the district. Some flats completed in the 1980s were also less than 200 sq ft in size, he said.
