Renting Retail Space / Shopfront in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is without a shadow of doubt the most expensive place on the planet for retail space and most landlords who own the space will never sell. The below is a picture of a shopfront on Peel Street, Central, Hong Kong back in 2004. A shop like that now, in 2019, will cost probably HK$150,000 to HK$ 250,000 a month in that very location and the size of the space is no more than 800sq ft. Hopefully this will give you a perspective of the craziness of the Hong Kong real estate situation.

For those who wish to rent a retail shop front, there are a couple of specialist who can help such as Professional Properties (http://www.pproperties.com.hk/eng/), OneDay (https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/retail/) and Friends Property Agency (http://www.fpahk.com/) in Wanchai.

On 6 November, 2019, there is a retail shop front that has just become available on Elgin Street.
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/listings/elgin-street-wai-yuen-building/

It is a 400 sq ft retail shop front on Elgin Street which is in the heart of Soho and it costs HK$ 40,000/month in rental fees.

For those who are interested - they can contact Warren Yeung +852 28401880.

There is another property at Gramercy on Caine Road which is around 3,000 sq ft and costs HK$ 240,000/month to rent.
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/listings/caine-road-gramercy/

We will update you again when some new and interesting shop fronts come online.

What is it like living on Discovery Bay?

For those considering moving to Hong Kong and need to find somewhere to stay; if you're unfamiliar with Hong Kong I'm sure you will be overwhelmed by the number of choices for those who have the luxury of time I'm of course a site visit to all the various districts would be preferable but for those who have to rely on internet for their research then in this article I would like to offer as much information as possible about what it's like to live on Discovery Bay. 

First I'll start with a bit of history about Discovery Bay which is a part of Lantau Island which is the largest island of the coast of Hong Kong it was started in 1980s the vast majority of the land in Discovery Bay was owned by one single person called Sam of Boykins Investment who in 1970s propose to the government of creating the concept of Discovery Bay unfortunately he ran out of money and ended up selling this plot of land to a Consortium of people relating incorporated into a publicly listed company called HKRI.  Discovery Bay continues to be owned by HKRI who managed to maintain and develop on this special enclave within Lantau. The original thinking behind Discovery Bay was that it would be be a special residential zone with a skew towards healthy living and a great environment as such there are no petrol cars in the whole of Discovery Bay except for special vehicles like ambulances and police vehicles everything is electric.

As a place to place Discovery Bay definitely has its perks, you don't feel like you are in Hong Kong, the air is cleaner, fewer people and there is generally more trees and greenery. Dogs running around in a carefree manner. The price of the apartments are also more affordable than comparable ones on Hong Kong island. The main transport means to get to and from discovery bay is the ferry which is a 30 minute ride and takes one to Central, ferries run every 20minutes and pretty much 24 hours. The only time the ferry stops running is when typhoons signal 8 is hoisted but even during these times travellers will be given 2 hours notice before the typhoons signal is hoisted so that they will not be stranded.

There are many great restaurants at Discovery plaza - the area directly next to the ferry terminal and most of them enjoy a beautiful sea view such as 22 North (https://www.22north.com.hk/) run by Philip Moriau which offers great food at affordable prices. There are also many parks and open areas where dogs can run around and play with other dogs. Though I am told the fleas situation is Discovery Bay is quite serious so flea collars are a must for dog owners. Overall the environment is definitely suited to expats from Europe used to having more space and don't mind a 30 minute commute into town centre.

Headland Homes is a great and trustworthy estate agent on Discovery Bay (http://www.headlandhomes.hk/) and they help a lot of expats find homes. 

Here are some examples properties that are available for rental or sale. 

Property on Parkland Drive:-

https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/buildings/property-at-parkland-drive-parkridge-village/

Properties at Positano:-

https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/buildings/positano-on-discovery-bay-for-rent-or-for-sale/

Properties at Chianti:-

https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/buildings/discovery-bay-phase-13-chianti-the-pavilion-block-1/

For those who wish to buy a property in Hong Kong, please be aware that the government has changed the stamp duty scheme payable for purchases recently; this page has more resource on the latest Stamp Duty rates:-
https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/news/hong-kong-stamp-duty-your-complete-guide-2019/