HK survey says properties define social status  

港逾半受访者认为:有200-800万港元物业才是中产

Hong Kong (CNS) -- Most Hong Kongers believe that owners of property worth HK$2 million to HK$8 million can be defined as middle class, meaning the economic measures of this societal hierarchy is much higher than before, a survey shows.

According to the survey released by the Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre on Wednesday, respondents singled out high incomes, owning property and having other assets such as savings or bonds as the top three indicators of being middle class.

Over 50 percent of respondents said owners of property worth HK$2 million to HK$8 million would make the cut, while 63.7 percent thought middle-class people would have assets of HK$500,000 to HK$6 million, excluding properties.

People who earn HK$30,000 to HK$60,000 a month would be perceived as being middle class by about 45.5 percent of those polled.

"The survey is aimed at helping us understand what the public thinks of as middle class," according to the chairman of the Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre.

"The skyrocketing housing price in Hong Kong is the reason respondents define the middle class as property owners," according to Victor Wong, an expert at the Department of Social Work at Hong Kong Baptist University

The foundation conducted the survey in July, and about 1,000 Hong Kongers were questioned.