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New arrival in HK -Moving to Midlevels/Central-Any recommendations?

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  1. #1

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    New arrival in HK -Moving to Midlevels/Central-Any recommendations?

    Hi All,

    We moved to HK few months back and have been in company paid service apartment till now and with the ebbing of third wave now starting our house hunting. I will work in wan chai and my wife in ICC, we have a one year old. We have looked at some apartments in Robinson place, 80 robison road, belchers etc but its quite confusing. Agents are saying that rents have come down quite a bit but to me it still looks quite expensive. We are ideally looking to be close to international schools, expat community and somewhere we can look to build a social circle ~ 45-50k. Any suggestions and comments would be helpful.

    Thanks.

  2. #2

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    What sort of sq footage are you looking for?

    The problem with the so called drop in rentals - its just gone from very very high to very high, depending on where you've moved from.

    Your best bets are to find an older building with few or no facilities (i.e. no swimming pool / gym etc) to get a good bargain. I tend to think that Caine Rd has a good mix of quiet/close enough apartments.

    Good schools in that area, although I'm not too sure whats good these days for pre-school.

    (And Belchers is NOT "mid levels" - it is in Kennedy Town - quite a bit away!)


  3. #3

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    Looking at something close to 900-1000sqft, belcher did seem quite far but somehow agents included it in mid level west, we did like Robinson place in terms of layout but not much units available right now...will check out caine road thanks


  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by HKG2020:
    belcher did seem quite far but somehow agents included it in mid level west
    West Midlevels, ha they’ve been spouting that bullshit ever since Belchers was built. That tells you all you need to know about agents....

    FYI pools etc are overrated in HK, they’re closed half the year even at the best of times and are very seldom ‘relaxing’

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sage:
    W
    FYI pools etc are overrated in HK, they’re closed half the year even at the best of times and are very seldom ‘relaxing’
    Maybe not on the island but there are estates with indoor pools, I lived on Ma Wan. 2 indoor pools and very quiet most of the time. Best part of my accommodation there. In the summer there is the addition on 2 outdoor also.

    To the OP. why not consider off island? Your wife is working in West Kowloon. Worth looking near there? Ma Wan would be ideal for a couple with a 1 year old looking for a social circle. Not ideal for you in Wan Chai or West Kowloon as you would have to add a journey to the ferry but you'd still do it with in 45 mins.

    There will be similar places in West Kowloon or Kowloon more widely. Life does not cease across the water from HK island!

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pauljoecoe:
    Maybe not on the island but there are estates with indoor pools, I lived on Ma Wan. 2 indoor pools and very quiet most of the time. Best part of my accommodation there. In the summer there is the addition on 2 outdoor also.

    To the OP. why not consider off island? Your wife is working in West Kowloon. Worth looking near there? Ma Wan would be ideal for a couple with a 1 year old looking for a social circle. Not ideal for you in Wan Chai or West Kowloon as you would have to add a journey to the ferry but you'd still do it with in 45 mins.

    There will be similar places in West Kowloon or Kowloon more widely. Life does not cease across the water from HK island!
    Well I did have a look at the apartments atop Kowloon station, didn't found them cheap either and some of them as expensive also there seems to be lot of noise issues with all the construction going on in west Kowloon- heard it from a colleague, but I am going to see few more areas, also discovery bay has been mentioned to me but not sure who convenient is the commute from there

  7. #7

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  8. #8

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    For me to justify paying 45-50k in rent I would need to be earning over 200k.

    For much less than half that money you could rent an apartment with facilities in Tung Chung/Ma Wan/Tuen Mun have a much better environment, especially for a young family and I doubt your commute would increase by all that much...

    mucaari likes this.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pauljoecoe:
    Maybe not on the island but there are estates with indoor pools, I lived on Ma Wan. 2 indoor pools and very quiet most of the time. Best part of my accommodation there. In the summer there is the addition on 2 outdoor also.

    To the OP. why not consider off island? Your wife is working in West Kowloon. Worth looking near there? Ma Wan would be ideal for a couple with a 1 year old looking for a social circle. Not ideal for you in Wan Chai or West Kowloon as you would have to add a journey to the ferry but you'd still do it with in 45 mins.

    There will be similar places in West Kowloon or Kowloon more widely. Life does not cease across the water from HK island!
    When we last looked Kowloon Station flats were as or more expensive per sq m than most places in Mid-Levels. Unless you mean Olympic area also.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by merchantms:
    When we last looked Kowloon Station flats were as or more expensive per sq m than most places in Mid-Levels. Unless you mean Olympic area also.
    I must admit I was just assuming for West Kowloon itself. But yes, surly looking at Olympic, or anywhere along the Hong Kong line would be doable. Tsing Yi - Hong Kong station is only a 20 min trip max. So a little bit longer travel to Wan Chai and easy for ICC.

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