Your place of residence (part 2)

[Monoriu]

Doesn't matter if it is rented or owned, flat or house.  For the record, my place is below 700 sq. feet. 

[Caliga]

I assume you mean size of the building... not the property, correct?

[Monoriu]

I assume you mean size of the building... not the property, correct?

Yeah, the part of the building where you live in, not the size of the land lot. 

Actually, that will make an even more depressing poll 

[Caliga]

Ok, 2,001 to 6,000 sq. feet then. 

In case you're curious, the size of my entire property is 152,460 square feet, give or take (I think it might be 3.47 acres to be exact).

[Viking]

Floorspace right?

[Pat]

34 square meters    I.e. not even half of 700 sq. ft. But I'm a student and it's in a nice part of Stockholm, so I'm very happy with it.

[Monoriu]

In HK, there are many different ways to calculate the size of a flat.  These matter hugely.  The usual figures quoted by the developers and real estate agents are called "construction sizes".  This is also the figure that will appear in the legal documents.  The catch is, they include many areas that the owners/users cannot, well, use.  A housing estate contains many semi-public or shared areas that are accessible to all owners, e.g. lift lobbies, corridors, machine rooms, access roads, garbage rooms, security rooms, etc etc.  The "construction size" includes the owner's share of these areas.  To illustrate, if all the semi-public areas in the housing estate add up to 100,000 sq. feet, and there are 100 flats of equal sizes in the estate, then the size of each flat will include 100 sq. feet of the shared areas.  So even if legally your flat is 400 sq. feet large, the actual size of the area accessible to you is 300. 

Another thing that "construction size" includes is the width of the walls.  In the above example, some 30-40 square feet may actually be walls that separate your unit from your neighbour's, or walls that separate your living room and your bedroom (that cannot be removed because they provide essential support to the high rise building).  Say, if the wall that separates your unit and your neighbour's is 10 feet long and 1 foot thick, then the wall has an area of 10 sq. feet.  Then half of that, or 5 sq. feet, will be included in the size of your flat.  Keep in mind that there are many walls surrounding each flat.  So the actual size of your flat is perhaps 270 sq. feet.

A third trick is like this.  In HK, air-conditioning is a must.  The machines are placed just outside the windows.  There is usually a ledge covering that part inside the flat.  Yes, that window ledge is included in the construction size.  It is an area that is accessible to the owners, but this area is uaually 1-2 feet higher than the floor.  You can place TVs or other crap on the ledge, but you cannot place a sofa on it.  Out of the 270 sq. feet, some 20-30 feet maybe window ledge areas. 

So when the developers say you have to pay 5 million dollars for a 400 sq. feet place, you have to keep the above things in mind - that in the end you may only have 250. 

[Monoriu]

Floorspace right?

yes.

[Caliga]

So when the developers say you have to pay 5 million dollars for a 400 sq. feet place

^ power

[Strix]

I am in the 2,000 - 6,000 range.

[Monoriu]

So when the developers say you have to pay 5 million dollars for a 400 sq. feet place

^ power

I mean 5 million in HK$, which is about 650k in US$.  Which is what a new flat in a pretty good area will cost these days. 

[Sheilbh]

I don't know.  I've never seen it on an advert to be honest.  May be more common when you go to buying a house.

[HisMajestyBOB]

I honestly have no idea. It's a loft apartment, so it's pretty spacious for one person, and has a nice high ceiling.

[DGuller]

A third trick is like this.  In HK, air-conditioning is a must.  The machines are placed just outside the windows.  There is usually a ledge covering that part inside the flat.  Yes, that window ledge is included in the construction size.  It is an area that is accessible to the owners, but this area is uaually 1-2 feet higher than the floor.  You can place TVs or other crap on the ledge, but you cannot place a sofa on it.  Out of the 270 sq. feet, some 20-30 feet maybe window ledge areas. 

I don't know, if I lived in HK, I'd probably be using the ledge, at least once.

[sbr]

1201-2000.