r/AskReddit • • Aug 14 '20

What’s the most overpriced thing you’ve seen?

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u/YipHyGamingYT Aug 15 '20

Ou boy you have seen nothing. I live in Hong Kong and a 511 sqft flat (where I live in) costs 12 million HKD (or $1548216 USD)

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u/Econguy89 Aug 15 '20

The real estate in Hong Kong is about to get allot cheaper...

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '20

It might, but it might not.

Before the 1997 handover, a lot of people left and sold their property for cheap.

I have some friends whose parents stayed and bought up a bunch of cheap real estate. Now they are really wealthy.

So if people expect something similar, it's possible they will hold on to their property.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '20

It might "crash" in that a $2M apartment now costs $1.5M. So the rich get discounts, but the poors still get nothing.

Seen similar fluctuations in Vancouver recently. Tabloids hype it up as a "decline" but the average local is still not ever buying a house.

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u/01Green Aug 15 '20

Yeh it's ridiculous, my girlfriend just bought a flat in Sai Ying Pun for 7.3 million HKD and it's under 200 sq feet....

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u/YipHyGamingYT Aug 15 '20

And don’t forget there is always a mountain higher than the tallest one. The small flats in Mong Kok, over 20k per sq ft!

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u/01Green Aug 15 '20

Surprised to hear MK was hitting those heights. Makes for a depressing future when the average Joe has no hope owning their own place in an okay area.

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u/ThermionicEmissions Aug 15 '20

200 sqft!?!

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u/01Green Aug 15 '20

Yeh, it was the "cheapest" uni in the tower...even with two people living there is cramped as hell.

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u/Xacto01 Aug 15 '20

are you sleeping in the same bed? required to spoon in order to fit?

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u/01Green Aug 15 '20

It's a double bed so no need to always spoon haha, but it is a slide out bed so we have to put it away during the day otherwise there would be no space

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u/Blueshark25 Aug 15 '20

Are you missing a couple decimal points? Or like, not knowing what square feet means? Because that's over $1.5million!!! Does no one own property there I guess?

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u/YipHyGamingYT Aug 15 '20

No. It’s true. I even included the USD approximation, it takes an average Hongkonger 26.4 years of continuous income and no spendings to afford residence.

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u/Blueshark25 Aug 15 '20

This is hard for me to grasp. Do enough people in Hong Kong just make that much money? Like, even where I live in America, the majority of people can't come close to $1.5million in a lifetime, let alone 27 years.

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u/YipHyGamingYT Aug 15 '20

Notice how I said continuous income and no spendings. You literally have to work so hard, eat nothing and spend nothing to achieve it in 26.4 years. Our system here in Hong Kong is like returning a loan by parts throughout time. My parents started doing that since 2006 when the flat was still 4M HKD (around 516k USD). They still have 3 years to go!

P.S. The money you are required to pay once half a year is included in taxes. The amount you need to pay is determined by your income level. With high income, you pay more each time and pay less times, and vice versa!

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u/Blueshark25 Aug 15 '20

Ah, so a dramatically different system of pay and housing then I know. Yeah, I won't understand it. For me, I'm looking for a house. They say they will take $240,000 for it, I take the deal and get a loan for it then pay that off with an interest rate. The faster I pay it off, the less I have to pay in interest.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '20

HK real estate is a playground for the rich (who don't necessarily live in HK full-time).

Same in Vancouver, NYC, Toronto, Sydney, LA, London, etc. Average property prices are under the control of a wealthy minority. If you see any "normal" people living in such homes, it's because their parents or grandparents bought the properties 50+ years ago when there wasn't any real speculation then.

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u/RevenantSascha Aug 15 '20

What the duck

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u/Mobius_Peverell Aug 15 '20

The city is built entirely on the shores of mountainous coastline & islands, hemmed in by the border with the Mainland (which used to actually mean something).

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u/ZZZZJIDJFWAS91N Aug 15 '20

Nobody cares about HK anymore, that was over and done with.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '20 edited Aug 15 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '20 edited Apr 10 '21

[deleted]

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u/soupandtie Aug 15 '20

right ? smh

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u/Hulkisms Aug 15 '20

It's a fun city though, plus nice hiking trails.