Reply #1214 SEAJ's post
Yes there is definitely a "spend it all while you can" mindset from mainlanders. Also they are not afraid to be poor again, because that's how they lived most of their lives. For someone who has worked hard to earn money his entire life it would be heartbreaking and probably very difficult to handle if he was suddenly poor. For these overnight millionaires being poor is just normal, and the riches and luxuries are something that wasn't expected.
I also noticed that the mainland nouveau riche do not really know how much things are supposed to cost. They don't have a good grasp on the value of things. To them a $50,000 Vertu phone may be a "nice phone", ignoring the fact that there are $100 phones out there. They also can't really tell the difference between $100 and $50,000.
An example of this is the real estate market, especially the high end market. Houses in Repulse Bay or at the Peak are selling for $200-300 million $HK up to even 1 billion $HK (120M $US). This is a ridiculous price bracket of course, considering the size and quality of those houses. $200 million will get you a 5000 sq/ft house at the peak with a small garden, maybe a small pool. That's 25M $US... that will buy you a 30,000 sq/ft mansion with freaking huge gardens, tennis courts etc... in Beverly Hills. You could get the Playboy Mansion for that price.
Apartments in the Mid-Levels go for 40M-100M, sizes between 2000 sq.ft and 4000sq/ft. That's 6M-12M $US for crying out loud! Locals can't even afford a regular apartment now, because of this price surge.
That is all because mainlanders buy these ridiculously overpriced properties like they were a cup of coffee. They pay cash, no need for mortgage. They buy in bulk, 10-20 apartments at a time, without even visiting them. And they think those prices are ok because they don't know better. | |
