Office space in the New Territories: Kwai Chung and Yuen Long

What the district is like

The New Territories is Hong Kong's working half. It holds the container port, the logistics yards, the new towns and the old walled villages, all behind a ridge of hills that separates it from the harbour cities. Coverage here is deliberately narrow: two addresses, each chosen for what surrounds it.

Yuen Long is one of the oldest settled parts of Hong Kong. It was a market town on the Yuen Long plain, and a new town was built around it from the late 1970s. Kat Hing Wai at Kam Tin is a walled village built by the Tang clan in the Ming dynasty, and its iron gates were carried off by the British army in 1899. At Ping Shan, the Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda is the only ancient pagoda left in Hong Kong. The working side of the town is industrial, and Yuen Long InnoPark covers 67 hectares with Nestle Hong Kong among its occupiers.

Kwai Chung exists in its present form because of the port. Hong Kong's commercial cargo moved here from Yau Ma Tei during the 1980s, and the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals are now among the largest port facilities in the world. Kerry Logistics runs its global headquarters from the district. The offices sit over the shops at Kwai Fong. Metroplaza opened in January 1993 with two 47-floor towers above the mall.

Getting there

Long Ping station on the Tuen Ma line is 300 metres from The Rainbow in Yuen Long, and the Light Rail runs through the district. Austin station, beside Hong Kong West Kowloon where the high speed trains to the mainland leave, is six stops from Long Ping with no change. For Central, change at Nam Cheong onto the Tung Chung line and ride three stops to Hong Kong station.

Metroplaza stands opposite Kwai Fong station on the Tsuen Wan line. Central is twelve stops away on that line, but only five if you change at Lai King, one stop south, onto the Tung Chung line. Tsing Yi is two stops by the same change and is an Airport Express stop, with the airport thirteen minutes further on.

Who it suits

Rents sit well below the central districts. One person runs from HK$2,450 a month in Yuen Long, and a room for four is HK$9,700.

Your staff can live near the office. A team drawn from the new towns gets a commute measured in minutes, not harbour crossings.

The mainland is close. The high speed trains at Hong Kong West Kowloon are six stops from Long Ping with no change.

Kwai Chung puts you beside the port. The container terminals are in the district, and the Tsuen Wan line runs straight to Central.

The trade-off

The trade here is coverage against price. Two buildings is a thin market next to the 102 on Hong Kong Island, so a New Territories office makes sense when the location itself is what you need, because your customers and your staff are here.

In exchange you get the lowest opening rents of the three regions and rooms that hold four people at HK$9,700 a month.

Compared with nearby districts

The two New Territories districts, with the closest Kowloon alternatives for reference. The prices are what one person pays a month in a private office.

Yuen Long opens lowest in the region and pairs the price with the high speed rail link. Kwai Chung prices the port address. For a wider choice within a short New Territories commute, the Tsuen Wan line corridor through Lai Chi Kok runs one stop east of Kwai Fong.

The market

The New Territories office market runs on the port and the new towns rather than the Grade A cycle that moves Central and Tsim Sha Tsui. Stock is thin and owner-occupied space dominates, so only two flexible centres are covered here. When a room opens, it stands out. Asking rents of HK$2,450 in Yuen Long and HK$4,463 at Metroplaza sit well under central district levels, and rooms are priced as one monthly figure whoever fills them.