Producing ‘luxury’ housing: Developers’ strategies and housing advertisements in Hong Kong (1961–2011)

Wing Yee Kimburley Choi, Annie HN Chan and Anita KW Chan
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Wing Yee Kimburley Choi: City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Annie HN Chan: Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Anita KW Chan: Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Urban Studies, 2020, vol. 57, issue 16, 3252-3280

Abstract: Building on insights from critical luxury studies, this paper examines how developers produce ‘luxury’ in Hong Kong’s high-priced housing by using textual analysis on a sample of newspaper advertisements for private housing from 1961 to 2011. Findings show how advertisers and developers actively injected new elements of luxury to maximise profits. We argue that Hong Kong’s property oligarchy has successfully created luxury housing in previously unremarkable locations by producing various exclusivist aspirations, thus promoting excess and reinforcing housing and socio-spatial inequalities. Our discussion deepens understanding of Hong Kong’s housing hierarchy by looking beyond location-based exclusivity and contributes to critical luxury studies by underscoring the strategies of property conglomerates in the production of luxury housing.

Keywords: housing inequality; housing advertisements; luxury housing; housing policy; property conglomerates; ä½ æˆ¿ ä¸ å¹³ç­‰; ä½ æˆ¿å¹¿å‘Š; 豪宅; 房地产 政策; 房地产集团 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:16:p:3252-3280

DOI: 10.1177/0042098019896711

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