Private housing estates

Private housing estates in Hong Kong

Mei Foo Sun Chuen is the earliest and largest private housing estate in Hong Kong

私人屋苑

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Private housing estate is a term used in Hong Kong for private mass housing – a housing estate developed by a private developer, as opposed to a public housing estate built by the Hong Kong Housing Authority or the Hong Kong Housing Society. It usually is characterised with a cluster of high-rise buildings, with its own market or shopping mall. Mei Foo Sun Chuen, built by Mobil, is the earliest (1965) and largest by number of blocks (99).

Early real estate development in Hong Kong followed the urban street pattern: single blocks are packed along streets and most of them are managed independently, with quality varying from block to block. Private housing estates on the other hand provide integrated management throughout whole estate, attracting more affluent residents.

Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Taikoo Shing, Whampoa Garden and City One Shatin are early notable examples. More projects followed and the idea became widely accepted as the middle class of Hong Kong emerged.

With the economies of scale of large developments, and the lifting of height restrictions since the opening of the new airport at Chek Lap Kok, there is the tendency of new private tower block developments with 10 to over 100 towers, ranging from 30-to-70-storeys high.

There has also been a trend in joint ventures between the already oligopolistic real-estate developer in Hong Kong. Developers have been increasingly partnering up to bid for development sites. At a land auction on 8 May 2007, the Government warned developers not to collude in bidding.

There is currently some controversy over the "wall effect" caused by uniform high-rise developments which adversely impact air circulation and aggravate the heat effect but also impact public hygiene and contribute to air pollution. Private developers seeking to maximise revenues have tended to build uniform blocks on seafront sites to give all units unrestricted sea view.

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Wikipedia