Fact of the Day: Someone owns 15,000 Properties

Who owns 15,000 properties in Hong Kong? Inquiring minds want to know

The Hong Kong government continues to work on its budget that will be revealed next month, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor unveiled a fact that left us dumbfounded.

When the government was doing research on Hong Kong's biggest landowners and cutting government rate rebates on properties, she told the Legislative Council today the biggest landlord had a staggering 15,000 properties.

Fifteen thousands properties. Any guesses as to who that is? And the person in second place -- how many properties does this he or she own?

Carrie Lam revealed the shocking number today in Legco

Is Lam shocked that someone can own that many? Or does she think this is normal?

We personally find it jaw-dropping.

This fact clearly illustrates how intense the concentration of wealth is owned by Hong Kong's 1 percent.

No wonder the city's Gini co-efficient was at 0.539 in 2017, which compares to the United States at 0.411 and Singapore at 0.4579. The Gini Index measures how evenly income is distributed on a scale of zero to one, with zero representing perfect equality, and one being perfect inequality.

What is Lam going to do about this new fact we have learned today? Will she sympathize for ordinary citizens who are barely scraping by to get a roof over their heads, or she is grateful this landlord is letting the tenants benefit from his/her tax breaks, which Lam hinted at today.

Nevertheless we're still shocked by the astonishing number of properties one person owns. How many more landlords are in Hong Kong who own over 10,000 units? Even a few thousand is a gob-smacking amount.

Lam doesn't seem to think this is a problem...

Superficial Economic Progress

This picture in Times Square was taken last year but still applies today

A local newspaper asked Hong Kong documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang her thoughts on the last 20 years since the handover in 1997.

She said it was superficial progress, that it was all focused on the economy and asked, what about people's livelihoods?

Yang really hit the nail on the head -- superficial progress. The government doesn't like to admit there are serious problems, in particular with the economy. However, the wealth gap between the rich and poor has gotten even worse, with the Gini Co-efficient at a record 0.539, up from 0.537 in 2011.

This means the city's wealthiest make 44 times more than the poorest. Interestingly Hong Kong is behind New York as the second-most unequal city in terms of income.

So while we have people who are uber rich and at the other end of the scale people barely scraping a living, the economy is faltering, but the government doesn't seem to notice.

Around dinnertime today I went to Sogo department store in Causeway Bay to buy a few things and was shocked to see how empty it was. The place is usually packed with shoppers and you'd have to elbow your way through the crowds.

But tonight there were none.

A friend had made this observation to me a few days earlier and I was very surprised, but this time I saw it for myself.

Granted the mad summer sales ended a few weeks earlier, but individual brands still had discounts though they weren't enough to entice people to buy.

People cannot afford to shop in Hong Kong -- heck they can't afford to spend much money except for basic expenses. People may be looking, but not many are actually getting their wallets out.

The only place that was busy was the basement grocery store, but while there were customers there buying food, the cashier line was empty.

There were mainlanders in the department store, some were buying -- saw one woman with her suitcase open on the floor and she was literally filling it up with her purchases like a jigsaw puzzle, while others were conducting a Sunday afternoon window shopping exercise with the emphasis on exercise.

Meanwhile most locals were empty handed.

As my friend said to me, this economy is unsustainable with housing prices through the roof and people priced out of the market.

So yes, Ruby Yang is right -- we are experiencing superficial progress -- to the benefit of whom?