Dai Qingcheng: Hong Kong's Dormitory Dilemma in Building a Study Destination

I recently had dinner with a young man from mainland China.

To prepare for starting university in Hong Kong in September, he came to the city three months early in June, hoping to familiarize himself with the environment and ease into the new academic year.

Unexpectedly, the first challenge he encountered upon arriving was not academic—it was finding a place to live.

It turned out that the university program he enrolled in did not guarantee student housing, and incoming students had to sort out accommodation on their own.

He had assumed that with plenty of private residential options in Hong Kong, arriving a few months early would make it easy to find a suitable place.

But once he actually started looking, he discovered the situation was far more difficult than he had imagined.

He searched everywhere and found that many units were priced well beyond his budget; the slightly cheaper ones were either cramped or in remote locations.

Some landlords also demanded a full year's rent paid upfront, which he found hard to stomach.

After much running around, he finally managed to rent a studio with a bathroom for nearly HK$10,000 (nearly S$1,600).

Though it was small and the rent was not cheap, at least he had a place to call home.