More Hong Kongers seeking ‘haunted flats’
As property prices surge, such inauspicious bargains are becoming too good to pass
HONG KONG: Mr Ng Goon-lau pointed at a window inside a dark and tiny bedroom. The window was small and easily sealed, Mr Ng explained, a perfect place for carbon monoxide poisoning.
A man once burned charcoal to kill himself there. Another tenant, a policewoman, hanged herself in the same apartment.
"That is why it was so cheap," said Mr Ng, the 66-year-old landlord, who bought the 325 sq ft unit after the double suicides for just over HK$1 million (S$174,000) in 2010, 30 per cent less than the then market rate.
Eight years later, the apartment is probably worth around HK$4.4 million, Mr Ng estimated.
Dubbed the "King of Haunted Flats" by local media, he has made a name for himself for speculating on such "hongza", or haunted flats - defined here as places where tragedies took place. He has been able to buy some of the homes at as much as a 40 per cent discount.
But Hong Kong's record-breaking property price surge over the past few years is pushing many to reconsider such inauspicious apartments as bargains too good to pass.
"The market is crazy now, there is so much demand," said the former shark's fin salesman.
"Buying an unlucky flat is now a practical way to own a house, so competition is fierce."
The financial hub's housing prices have been on a record-breaking run for 18 consecutive months, with the city now one of the world's most expensive real estate markets.
Even Mr Ng, who has bought around two dozen such flats since the 1990s and flipped most for profit, is spooked by the market surge.
A double whammy of high prices and a heavy tax on non-first time buyers means he has not bought an unlucky flat for six years.
A flat a few doors down from the apartment where former British banker Rurik Jutting murdered two women in 2014 was sold last year.
The price dropped 6 per cent from its precious transaction in 2011, even though Hong Kong's housing market rose more than 80 per cent during the same period.
Banks are also less willing to provide mortgages for an unlucky home due to concerns it could be difficult to resell in the event of a mortgage default, according to the managing director of Centaline Mortgage Broker, Ms Ivy Wong.
But buying such homes clearly isn't a problem for some.
"I was not afraid at all," said Ms Jenny Yuen, who once rented one of Mr Ng's haunted flats.
"Everybody dies. It is a natural thing." - REUTERS
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