It cannot be said that mini storage is cheap in Hong Kong, because the rent is already a wallet-busting affair even on a monthly basis. It isn’t always. It will either be costly or cheap depending on the place, type of building and rather frankly how desperate you are at the time of booking in. Click our extra resources for another topics!
The mini-unit which is the size of a locker can start at approximately HKD 300 to 600 per month. Seems okay initially. then, you see, you will have room to bring only a suit-case, at best two, when you play a perilous stacking game. When you are in need of something more practical, like a place to store some of your boxes and a chair, you are in the greater range of HKD 800-1500.
It is there that it becomes interesting.
The core location such as Causeway bay or Tsim Sha Tsui is also viewed to be of premium even up to 2,000 HKD per small unit. Equal neighbourhood, equal size, equal bill. It is reverse rent logic, except that it is your stuff but not your body.
These are locations that appear low priced. Then the extras creep in. Administrative charges, required insurance, access cards, deposits which are unnaturally large even in relation to the size of a closet. Climate control? Another price hump. Good when you need to store electronics or whatever cannot withstand humidity, yet. it is cheap.
One of my friends was of the opinion that he had a good deal at HKD 700/month. It had been cut down to HKD 1,100 by the time all was added to it by signing it. He merely oughted it and paid it because it was a pain to rearrange his boxes than the incremental cost.
The size trap is also present. You think that there is good small and then half way through the packing you run out of space. The modernization of the middle-contact is not only more expensive than leasing a slightly bigger unit in the first place. It is among the things that individuals hardly get during the first occasion.
Even more than it would appear, there is the issue of access. The cheaper storage facilities can be of limited hours or they require manpower. Innocent until the time when you are desperately in need of something late one night and are locked out of your own. The 24/7 access is more expensive, however, the convenience can be justified after one has experienced a bad experience.
Next there is the time factor. Monthly rates in short-term rentals are usually higher. The long term deals may appear to be cheaper on paper, however, you are signing and you do not even know whether you will still require the space. That is the reason why people end up paying to store something months after losing the knowledge of what is inside.
The price is not the only thing that is surprising. It is the ratio at which it is incorporated in your day-to-day spending. Being a silent subscription, you do not ask after a long time.
Mini storage is not expensive in the city compared to what Hong Kong is, but it is not that cheap as people would want it to be. The greatest aspect of the shock is the difference between the expectation and the reality.