Hong Kong "Home Sales Worst since SARS"....

The above Standard headline should read...

"Rabbit Hutch Sales Worst Since SARS"

The average 600 square feet for a family a four is not a home, in my humble opinion, and made even worse since a Hong Kong square foot is nowhere near a real square foot. Since developers here have been able to define your living space in Hong Kong rabbit hutches including the space occupied by the elevators, the supporting walls, and other unusable areas, the actual living space enjoyed by a typical Hong Kong resident is reduced by at least another 20% in this Kafkaesque calculation.

Who in their right mind would ever buy an apartment in Hong Kong at the prices that these spaces have commanded in the past?

The Land Registry said 4,426 new homes were sold in December, the seventh time in the past eight months sales have declined.

The previous worst performance was in May 2003, during SARS, when 4,130 homes were sold.

A 1,500 square foot poorly constructed apartment with a terribly inefficient layout will set you back in the neighborhood of HK$12 million [US$1.5 million] in the Mid-levels of Hong Kong. Bleck.

It never ceases to amaze me how Hong Kongers just love real-estate and cannot get enough of it. There will be plenty of people getting totally buried after prices decline the next 6 months about 30% and even after a decline of that magnitude, prices will STILL be too high!