Hong Kong has been ranked

香港被評為

the least affordable housing market in the world

世界上最難以負擔的房地產市場，

eight years in a row and by a long shot.

連續八年而且遙遙領先。

Housing prices are now almost 20 times more than annual income.

現在房價幾乎是年收入的20倍

That means that a household making $50,000 USD

那表示一個收入五萬美金的家庭

would on average be looking for a house that cost $980,000 USD.

平均需要花費九十八萬美金在一間房子上

And it's getting really bad.

而且情況更加糟糕了

Hundreds of thousands of residents

數十萬計的居民

now squeeze into incredibly small apartments, most of them no bigger

現在擠在極其小的公寓，多數的格局比一個停車格還小

than a parking space. So these are cage homes, which basically fit one person

所以這些就是籠屋，基本上只能容納一個人

and their belongings. And they basically stack these in a room in order to fit

以及他們的所有物。而且他們也必須把他們的物品疊起來才能夠

as many people as they can in the room. And yet the price per square foot for

盡可能在一間房間裡容納更多人。而這些小屋

these smaller houses just keeps shooting up.

的每平方呎房價只持續攀升。

I visited these homes to try to piece

我造訪這些家庭試著去拼湊出

together an explanation for this trend and to meet the people who are being

一個對這個趨勢的解釋以及拜訪那些被擠入

squeezed by the world's least affordable real estate market.

世界上最難負擔的房地產市場的人們

There are now tens of thousands of people in this city who live in spaces

在這城市中現在有數以萬計的人們居住在大小

that are between 75 and 140 square feet. For some perspective a typical parking

在75至140平方呎的空間裡。就某個角度來看一個標準的停車格

space in the US is 120 square feet.

在美國是120平方呎。

One of the most common strategies for small space living

在小空間生存當中最為常見的策略

is this subdivided house model. This big space that's been

便是這個室內隔間的格局。這個大空間被

divided up into a bunch of tiny little living spaces.

分隔成數個極小的生活空間。

These people basically

這些人們基本上

have room for a bed and a table and a few belongings.

有的空間只能放一張床、一張桌以及一些個人物品。

What makes this model work is that they have a bigger communal space where they're able to

這個格局可行的原因在於他們能夠擁有較大的公共空間

have their cooking and their washing and the bathroom open to everyone, so that

來煮東西及盥洗而且廁所開放給大家使用，

they can save space and save money in their actual living quarters.

所以他們可以為實際的生活區域節省一些空間及金錢。

So this is

所以 這是

the kitchen for this space which is shared by four families.

廚房給住在這區的四個家庭共用。

The tempting explanation here for why the prices are

有個試著解釋為什麼房價會

so high is land scarcity. You know, seven and a half million people crammed into this

這麼高的原因是因為土地稀少。你知道的，750萬人擠在這群

series of islands, it's gonna drive up the prices. The same story in a lot of

島嶼中，房價勢必會飆漲。同樣的事情也發生在許多

places that have run out of land that are in high demand — in San Francisco or

有著高度需求而土地空間不夠的地方 — 舊金山或

New York City.

紐約市。

Okay this might be the story in New York City and San Francisco,

好，這或許可以解釋紐約或舊金山情況，

but is Hong Kong actually running out of land?

但是香港真的沒有土地可以使用了嗎?

Let's see what the drone says about this.

就讓我們用空拍機來看看吧!

Flying over Hong Kong you start to see that, while yes, there's a very dense

飛越香港上空你會開始看到，是的沒錯，都市景觀

urban landscape, there's also a whole lot of green space.

非常地密集，也有很大一片的綠地。

Government land-use data

政府土地利用資料

says that 75 percent of the land in Hong Kong is not developed. Now some of that

表示香港有75%的土地並未開發。現在有些是

is mountainous and rocky and not easy to build on, but certainly not all of it.

山區以及岩石地帶並不容易開發，但肯定不是全部的地都不行。

So I posed this question about density to two experts, one is a Hong Kong

所以我向兩位專家詢問關於都市密度的問題，一位是香港公民

citizen and the other is a 30-plus year resident. Both are advocates for better

而另一位是超過30年的居民。兩位都提倡更佳的

urban design.

都市設計。

Are high prices primarily the result of land scarcity?

高房價主要是土地不足造成的嗎?

No.

不。

No.

不。

There's a land-use issue, because also land is being

會有土地利用的問題，也是因為土地

inefficiently used or conserved.

沒有被有效率的使用或保存。

The problem isn't the shortage of land. The problem is bad land management.

問題並不是土地的短缺。問題在於不良的土地管理。

Land use, land management, what these experts are referring to is that

土地利用，土地管理，這些專家指的是

of all the land in Hong Kong only 3.7% is zoned for urban housing.

香港只有3.7%的土地是被規劃為都市住宅。

But it's not because of mountains, it's because of policy.

但不是因為山地，而是因為政策。

And this gets to the heart of the explanation of why more and more people

而這也帶入解答的核心為什麼愈來愈多人

are living in homes the size of parking spaces.

居住在停車格大小的家中。

The first thing to note if you

要注意的第一件事，如果你

want to understand the real explanation, is that the government owns all of the

想要了解真正的答案，就是政府是否擁有所有

land in Hong Kong. Well, all except for this one church that the British built

香港的土地。嗯，全部除了這個英國人所建造的教堂

here when they ruled it back in the 1800s and it kind of just escaped the whole

當他們在1800年代統治時期，而它也似乎恰巧地避開了整個

government-owns-all-the-land thing.

"政府擁有所有土地"的情形。

So the government owns all the land and it

所以政府持有所有的土地

leases it out to developers, usually for 50 years in an auction process where the

並經由拍賣的程序出租給開發商，通常是50年

highest bidder gets the contract. With such scarce and valuable land zoned for

最高出價者能簽定合約。這些規劃給住宅區如此稀少而且有價值的土地

housing, real estate companies more and more of them coming from mainland China

愈來愈多來自中國的不動產商

with lots of money, will duke it out in these auctions.

挾帶著大量資金，將會在拍賣會中出手爭奪他們。

And will end up at an

而終將會造成

astronomically high price.

天文數字般的高房價。

Like this plot of land that was just

就像這一片土地才剛

leased out for 2.2 billion dollars, which set an all-time record for the most

以22億美元釋出，刷新了歷史紀錄

expensive land of ever leased by the Hong Kong government to a developer. So the

是香港政府釋出給開發商最昂貴的土地。所以

way the government zones and leases land is the first part of this. The other

政府劃分及釋出土地的方式是原因之一。另一個

part of this explanation has a lot to do with taxes. If you're the type of person

原因很大一部分是關於稅。如果你是那種

who navigates away from this video when you hear the word tax policy,

聽到「稅收政策」這個詞就想逃走的人，

stay with me here.

請留步。

This place loves low taxes. It's a great place to do business,

這裡熱愛低稅。是很適合做生意的地方，

because the corporate tax is low no value-added tax, no sales tax, free

因為企業稅低，沒有加值稅，沒有銷售稅，自由

market economics, low taxes. That's embedded into the fabric of this place.

市場經濟，低稅。這些制度根深柢固地存在這裡。

Look at all those low taxes doing their work, building up those skyscrapers,

看看這些低稅的成就，興建成的摩天大樓

slapping on those bank logos all over town.

銀行商標明顯地遍布於各地。

So if the government isn't getting revenue

所以如果政府並沒有稅務收入的話

from taxes, it really needs it from another source and in the case of Hong Kong

它就真的需要其它收入來源，而香港的例子

that source is land sales.

那個來源就是它的不動產銷售額。

A lot of the government revenues here

政府大宗的收入

driven by land revenues and it's about 30% of government public financing income.

來自地產收入而且大約占政府30%的公共金融收入。

The government of Hong Kong can lease out this land to developers at

香港政府能夠以天文數字出租給開發商

astronomical prices, make a ton of revenue from that and not have to raise

創造巨額的歲入而且不需要提高對

taxes on the people or the corporations that reside here and they still proudly

在地人民及企業的稅收而他們也依然對

retain their ranking as the freest economy on earth.

維持在世界上最自由的經濟體感到驕傲。

What this

這

means is that the Hong Kong government doesn't have a huge incentive to free up

所代表的是香港政府並沒有強烈動機去釋出

more land and lower prices, but while this current arrangement of bidding and

更多的土地以及降低價格，但是當現行的競標與拍賣流程

auctions is really good for revenue for the government and good for the market

對於政府及市場有非常好的收益的同時，

generally, it's not super good for the people of Hong Kong.

一般來說，它對於香港的人們並不是很好。

Of all the small spaces,

在所有的小空間當中，

this is easily the most cramped. These are coffin homes.

這是最容易達到高密度的方式。這些是棺材屋。

Could I ask you just a

我可以請問你

quick question about your living space?

關於你的生活空間一個簡單的問題嗎?

The government is slowly working on this problem.

政府正慢慢的處理這個問題。

Year after year new policies come in that are meant to fix this, but they're

年復一年新的政策被提出來解決它，但是他們

slow to change, mainly because they have an incentive to keep the status quo as

改變得慢，主要是因為他們有動機維持目前

it is.

的狀態

Out here at this industrial complex in Hong Kong, I met with a guy

在這個香港的工業區裡，我和一位

named Eric Wong, a local inventor and businessman who has seen a business

名叫Eric Wong的人碰面，他是個當地的發明家及企業家，在這個

opportunity in the midst of this space crisis.

空間危機之中看到商業機會。

Eric grew up in Hong Kong and has been thinking about small-space living for a

Eric 在香港長大也對這個狹小生活空間的問題思考了

long time.

很久。

Oh it has WiFi.

喔，這邊有WiFi。

These capsules come in one or two-person sizes

這些膠囊有一人或兩人的尺寸

and are meant to provide a more efficient and hygienic version of the

目的是希望能夠提供更加有效率以及衛生的

cage and coffin homes, all at a relatively low price.

籠屋及棺材屋版本，全部都在相對低廉的價格。

Down here there's a

在這下面有個

little box where you can put all your valuables and so there's mirror lights, there's

小盒子可以讓你放你全部的貴重物品，那邊有鏡子燈

reading lights.

那邊有閱讀燈。

But these capsules, innovative as they are, really just put a

但是這些膠囊，的確是創新，事實上只是

band-aid on this housing problem. They don't serve as a real solution.

治標不治本。

A real solution would need to come from something that's much less profitable

真正的解法應該是來自較不營利導向

and fun to look at:

以及有意思的方案去看待它:

Government policy and zoning reform that will free up more

政府的政策以及劃分改革會釋出更多

land and put the interests of the people above the interests of the market, but

土地以及將人們的利益優先於市場的利益，但是

until the government can make that happen people in Hong Kong will continue

直到政府能夠將其實現之前，香港的人們將繼續

to squeeze into smaller and smaller spaces.

擠在愈來愈小的空間之中。