Simon Wong aged 61 lives in a ‘Coffin Home’ measuring 20-square-foot due to the increasing living costs and house prices in Hong Kong, for comparison to buy a house/apartment in HK you would be looking at around £1,104 per square foot, in New York City it’s roughly £1,300, in and around London expect anywhere from £370-£2000 not 1
The government estimates around 200K people live in ‘coffin homes’ but those numbers could be a lot higher!
Simon Wong smokes a cigarette inside his ‘coffin home’ in Hong Kong. Bobby Yip/Reuters
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, has called the housing crisis
“the gravest potential hazard” to society, as only 7% of the city’s land is zoned for housing.
With just enough space to lie down, roll over, store some clothes and possibly cook a pot noodle it’s pretty harsh conditions.
His monthly rent of around £180 is probably enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment in most British towns but in Hong Kong he is looking at a 1.20M X 1.82M box!
What about in London?
This 2016 run down of average square footage costs in London should give you some idea on prices
