Soaring Hong Kong rents: tenants pay more – and fight for shrinking space

For business owner Tracy Sung, flat-hunting in Hong Kong was complicated by two things – her pets and the intense competition in the rental market.Sung, who used to live in a 500 sq ft flat in Happy Valley, had to offer more than the landlord’s asking price to secure an 800 sq ft property in Tseung Kwan O. The 28-year-old is paying about HK$35,000 (US$4,480) a month for her new home, compared with HK$28,000 previously.The neighbourhood in Hang Hau offered what she considered the most reasonable rent and pet-friendly flats, she said. The New Territories district’s larger area and open spaces suited her and her birds. Although commuting to Hong Kong Island and Kowloon would take longer, she did not mind because her business allowed her a flexible schedule.“I took the flat on the same day we looked at it because the other two previous times when I negotiated, someone placed a higher offer after mine so I had to either bid higher or just give up,” Sung said. “It was quite harsh because other would-be tenants would make offers such as an outright one-year payment of the rent, so I either had to match or raise my bid.”Sung is not alone in finding Hong Kong’s rental market challenging. Newly married Eunice Fermin-Trin and her husband faced a different dilemma – choosing between bigger space and better location.Their new flat in Wan Chai is about 200 sq ft bigger than their previous one in the same district, at essentially the same price. They now pay about HK$25,000.