Although property prices have generally shrunk in Hong Kong, it's not all gloom and doom for the local real-estate sector. The spotlight has fallen on one of the city's most unlikely places - Tai Kok Tsui in Kowloon - which used to be a ghetto peopled by new immigrants and the underprivileged.

In recent years, this rundown neighborhood in the Sham Shui Po district, adjacent to the busy commercial hub of Mong Kok, has undergone a complete makeover that has elevated it to one of the more desirable addresses for the upwardly mobile.

Official figures show that average home prices in Tai Kok Tsui have soared more than 100 percent in the past four years to some HK$6,000 per square foot, comparable to those in some of the city's more well-known middle-class residential areas.

The strong demand for better-quality homes in the area has reportedly pushed the average price of apartments in one development to more than HK$15,000 per square foot.

Only about six months ago, when Tai Kok Tsui's transformation was still little known, the developer had trouble finding buyers for those apartments.

The transformation, or gentrification, if you like, of Tai Kok Tsui is the latest example of the major demographic shifts brought about by the expanding underground railway network.

The rejuvenation of Kennedy Town - the long-forgotten hub of China trade in the early 20th century - arising from the West Island Line extension of the city's subway, is celebrated by the proliferation of fancy eateries and quaint boutiques catering to the many young professionals and executives moving in droves to the newly built and better-furnished apartments in that area.

The soon-to-open South Island Line has already brought sweeping changes to the industrial district of Wong Chuk Hang and the sleepy residential enclave of Ap Lei Chau.

Some of the rundown factory buildings have gone through major renovation, turned into modern office premises and hotels.

On Ap Lei Chau, old tenement blocks have been torn down to make way for luxury residential buildings with central air-conditioning and floor-to-ceiling windows offering stunning seaviews.

Exaggerated reports of an impending fresh property glut have misled some people into believing that the market is teetering on the brink of a crash, vaporizing billions of dollars in household wealth.

In fact, the market is seeing a cyclical correction, with its fundamentals backed by strong demand. If you doubt that, just take a subway ride to Tai Kok Tsui.

(HK Edition 06/27/2016 page11)