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Property prices in the Other world in HK


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In HK, it costs more to house the dead than the living
Jun 4, 2014 11:00am
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31788171_-_04_06_2014_-_hongkong-death_.
In Hong Kong, it costs more to house the dead than the living.

There’s one thing even Hong Kong’s more than 40 billionaires will struggle to buy – a final resting place on their home turf.

Land shortages in the late 1970s forced Hong Kong to ban construction of new permanent burial sites, and public cemeteries were ordered to ensure the remains of the deceased be exhumed and cremated after six years to make way for newcomers.

The policy has done little to alleviate the grave shortage in a city where more than 40,000 people die each year.

Some can get lucky if relatives choose to have the remains of a loved one removed from a public burial site to be cremated, opening the prized permanent space to a lottery system, but plots may only come available every few years.

The only other way is if the deceased is a member of a church that has a private graveyard with a plot available, a very rare instance that can cost up to $486,000 (HK$3 million).

“In Hong Kong, people cannot buy a final resting place even if they have all the money in the world,” said Hoi Pong Kwok, funeral director at Heung Fok Undertaker. “The government doesn’t just have to settle housing needs for the living. It also needs to address those of the dead.”

In land-hungry Hong Kong, where more than 7 million people are packed into just 30 percent of the territory, failure to vacate a plot after six years means bodies will be exhumed by the government, cremated and put in a communal grave.

While the funeral policy has resulted in a surge in the number of people being cremated – 90 percent of the city’s dead were cremated in 2013, up from 38 percent in 1975 – cremation is by no means the answer for those seeking a resting place.

WAITING GAME

Securing a niche in a public columbarium – a drab concrete structure where urns are placed – can take up to five years and there are officially more than 21,800 deceased on the waiting list for a space, which costs more than HK$3,000 ($486).

Funeral service providers say there are a further 100,000 jars of remains stored in funeral homes or at funeral companies across the city, some of which are also waiting for plots.

Those who can’t stand the wait must pay as much as HK$1 million ($162,021) for a niche about the size of a sheet of A4 paper in a privately owned crematorium.

At Lung Shan Temple in Fanling district, a private plot measuring 63 square inches (0.04 square metres) with “the most auspicious position” costs HK$1.8 million ($291,638).

With a luxury home in Hong Kong costing roughly HK$151,389 ($24,528) per square metre, that means it’s more expensive to house the dead than the living. “You have the green dragon on the left and the white tiger on the right,” said an agent surnamed Tang, describing the supreme “feng shui” of the high-end niche.

“Permanent burial sites are not available any more. We don’t even have enough space for the living,” said Barry Law, sales manager at Fortune Wealth Memorial Park Ltd.

In Hong Kong, even death provides little relief from the city’s sky-high property prices. “It’s not easy to afford a piece of land in Hong Kong, even after death,” Kwok said.

Source: Reuters

- See more at: http://www.tnp.sg/news/hk-it-costs-more-house-dead-living?utm_content=buffer21080&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.e79mPlRh.dpuf

 

HUAT ah!!

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Hypersonic

That's true.

Same goes to the columbarium in Singapore.

My parents just bought 2, side by side of each other.

Cost? 5 figures !!!

 

Don't know how to count the $psf :D

 

Anyway, my parents said, there are 2 business that won't go bust.

One to welcome us to this world, ie. hospitals; the other one that settle our deaths, ie columbarium.

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be it alive or dead...living or death expenses are equally high. Buying columbarium is like being house in s'pore. Different level different price, eye level most expensive!

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Turbocharged

Why u never read contend?? This is talking about dead ppl land. Why bring in HDB and gov??

Why everyone take HK housing and compare with Sp housing ?

 

when one compare against one another, it's does not help much but cause collateral damages.

 

a ) HK has diff terrain / Sp more flat, need to reclaim land

b) HK population is higher so it satisfy tall building and density are more dense & crampy

c) Pricing alot more pricey as Sp are playing catching up game with countless measures

d) Sp Govt. built to tender as HK govt built to sell later

e) Land scarcity on both sides as PRC can buy, hence more choices and more variety

f) Loan mortgage quantum is affordable and less restricted

g) Sp may start housing scheme for different types of housing needs, HK has few or little restrictions

h) I culd have go on and on . . . nvr ending

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be it alive or dead...living or death expenses are equally high. Buying columbarium is like being house in s'pore. Different level different price, eye level most expensive!

 

Suck thumb. Die already, cremate and scatter into the sea. No need to pay for a niche.

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Supercharged

The only way is to change the mindset of people, that this is not necessary to bury the dead in a good fengshui place.

 

Die, just cremate straight away and keep the ask in urn in the house or scatter in the sea. Simple.

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Moderator

Why u never read contend?? This is talking about dead ppl land. Why bring in HDB and gov??

 

 

he is obviously stuck in his own world.....doing a Gold 905, read what you want to read

The only way is to change the mindset of people, that this is not necessary to bury the dead in a good fengshui place.

 

Die, just cremate straight away and keep the ask in urn in the house or scatter in the sea. Simple.

 

 

yup...that's my plan too

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Turbocharged

 

 

he is obviously stuck in his own world.....doing a Gold 905, read what you want to read

 

 

yup...that's my plan too

 

I scatter your ashes for you ai mai? :ph34r:

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Turbocharged

i told my wife to put my urn in the storeroom. [thumbsup] no need go temple or whatever can see me liao.

 

scatter ashes into the sea still need govt approval.

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Turbocharged

 

Suck thumb. Die already, cremate and scatter into the sea. No need to pay for a niche.

 

easy la! i also want to be cremated ... die already, everyone should move on. i dont want to stick around in an urn.

 

cherish someone when they are alive, don't treasure them when they are dead!

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Supersonic

That's true.

Same goes to the columbarium in Singapore.

My parents just bought 2, side by side of each other.

Cost? 5 figures !!!

 

Don't know how to count the $psf :D

 

Anyway, my parents said, there are 2 business that won't go bust.

One to welcome us to this world, ie. hospitals; the other one that settle our deaths, ie columbarium.

Although the business for these two industry would not go bust. But if lack of land to build such facility, business also would get affected. Esp if house for the dead, so far you would not see a few storey high building columbarium?! Hospital still can build like 7-10 storey high.

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Although the business for these two industry would not go bust. But if lack of land to build such facility, business also would get affected. Esp if house for the dead, so far you would not see a few storey high building columbarium?! Hospital still can build like 7-10 storey high.

 

Can. I have joked to my relatives and friends that in order to compact the columbarium, the niches should be stacked in the warehouse and ancestor tablets be digitized. Family members are issued with "membership cards", and they do electronic booking of prayer spaces in advance. Then when they flash their "membership card", their ancestors' niches will be retrieved by robotic arms and their tablets displayed on monitors for prayers to commence.

 

If anyone materializes this business idea and makes money, remember to buy me a beer. [laugh]

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Supersonic

 

Can. I have joked to my relatives and friends that in order to compact the columbarium, the niches should be stacked in the warehouse and ancestor tablets be digitized. Family members are issued with "membership cards", and they do electronic booking of prayer spaces in advance. Then when they flash their "membership card", their ancestors' niches will be retrieved by robotic arms and their tablets displayed on monitors for prayers to commence.

 

If anyone materializes this business idea and makes money, remember to buy me a beer. [laugh]

I think it might happen maybe in future, esp when there is no more land for the dead.
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We bought a place too for grandparent ..now dont buy,next time even more exp

 

Initially the section at level 1 was sold 20k,now 50k over

 

Its getting more n more exp liao

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