Families shopping for Mid-Levels rarely start with a district. They start with a school net, and on Hong Kong Island two numbers dominate the conversation: 11 and 12. Both take in a slice of Mid-Levels, both attract the same budget, and both are routinely described as interchangeable. Three months of registered transactions say they are not — but not in the way most buyers expect.
Part 1: The Real Estate Picture
A note on method and on boundaries. Registered sale and letting records cover 9 June to 9 September 2026 and were read on 9 September 2026; only records disclosing both a consideration and a saleable area are counted, giving 545 in net 11 and 131 in net 12. Each record was assigned to a net using the school-net field carried in the transaction record itself, not by guessing from a district label. The Mid-Levels districts examined are Mid-Levels West, Mid-Levels Central, Mid-Levels East and Tai Hang Mid-Levels. Listing pools were read from two Hong Kong listing platforms and from PropMark; subsidised-sale housing is excluded throughout. Nothing here is estimated or extrapolated.
One caveat worth stating before any figure. Mid-Levels Central straddles the boundary: of its records in the window, 77 fell in net 11 and 33 in net 12. A district name is not a school-net allocation. Any specific street address must be checked against the current official allocation before an offer is made.
1. What actually changed hands, 9 June to 9 September 2026
Start with the number almost everyone gets wrong.
| Registered sales | School Net 11 | School Net 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Records | 243 | 75 |
| Median unit price | HK$20,048 per sq ft | HK$20,076 per sq ft |
| Median consideration | HK$15,302,800 | HK$21,800,000 |
| Median saleable area | 854 sq ft | 1,200 sq ft |
| Consideration range | HK$3,000,000 – HK$380,772,000 | HK$7,000,000 – HK$470,000,000 |
| Unit price range | HK$7,527 – HK$128,857 | HK$11,583 – HK$92,593 |
| Area range | 191 – 4,049 sq ft | 527 – 5,076 sq ft |
The two nets price Mid-Levels floor space at the same rate. Twenty-eight Hong Kong dollars a square foot separates them — a difference of one part in seven hundred. Yet the median net 12 buyer wrote a cheque 42 per cent larger, because the median net 12 flat is 40 per cent bigger. You are not paying a premium per foot to sit in net 12. You are being required to buy more feet.
That requirement is absolute at the bottom of the market.
| Saleable area | Net 11 sales | Net 12 sales |
|---|---|---|
| Under 500 sq ft | 58 | 0 |
| 500 – 799 sq ft | 53 | 19 |
| 800 – 1,099 sq ft | 49 | 15 |
| 1,100 – 1,499 sq ft | 30 | 14 |
| 1,500 – 1,999 sq ft | 17 | 15 |
| 2,000 sq ft and above | 36 | 12 |
Fifty-eight compact flats changed hands in net 11 over the quarter. Net 12 recorded none at all — not one sale below 500 sq ft in three months. For a couple buying ahead of a first child, or a family stretching to reach a net at the limit of its budget, that single row decides the question before any other consideration is reached.
Price bands follow from it.
| Consideration | Net 11 sales | Net 12 sales |
|---|---|---|
| Under HK$10,000,000 | 74 | 5 |
| HK$10,000,000 – HK$19,999,999 | 74 | 27 |
| HK$20,000,000 – HK$29,999,999 | 26 | 14 |
| HK$30,000,000 – HK$49,999,999 | 29 | 15 |
| HK$50,000,000 – HK$79,999,999 | 11 | 7 |
| HK$80,000,000 and above | 29 | 7 |
Net 11 put 74 of 243 sales under HK$10 million; net 12 managed 5 of 75. Read alongside the size table, the mechanism is plain: the entry price is a function of the minimum flat size on offer, and net 12’s Mid-Levels does not offer a small one.
Building age. The transaction record carries a completion year, so the age gap can be measured rather than asserted.
| Age of building at sale | Net 11 sales | Net 12 sales |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10 years | 29 | 5 |
| 10 – 19 years | 12 | 5 |
| 20 – 29 years | 45 | 11 |
| 30 – 39 years | 87 | 17 |
| 40 – 49 years | 23 | 18 |
| 50 years and above | 47 | 19 |
| Median age | 33 years | 39 years |
Six years separates the medians, which sounds modest. The tail is where the difference lives: net 11 recorded 29 sales in buildings under 10 years old and 23 first-hand sales in the quarter; net 12 recorded 5 and 13 respectively, and its record is weighted heavily into stock over 40 years old — 37 of 75 sales, against 70 of 243. A buyer who wants a new building with a clubhouse, a lift lobby that works and no imminent major-works levy has a live pipeline in net 11 and something close to a waiting game in net 12.
Lettings. The same pattern runs through the rental record, inverted in an instructive way.
| Registered lettings | School Net 11 | School Net 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Records | 302 | 56 |
| Median monthly rent | HK$27,000 | HK$55,000 |
| Median rent per sq ft | HK$60 | HK$55 |
| Median saleable area | 518 sq ft | 1,095 sq ft |
| Rent range | HK$14,000 – HK$200,000 | HK$21,000 – HK$610,000 |
| Rent per sq ft range | HK$36 – HK$95 | HK$32 – HK$145 |
Net 12 rents for less per square foot than net 11 — HK$55 against HK$60 — and yet costs a tenant slightly more than double per month. Floor space in the eastern Mid-Levels is marginally cheaper to rent and comes in units twice the size, and the second fact overwhelms the first. Net 11 put 162 of 302 lettings under HK$30,000 a month; net 12 put 8 of 56.
| Monthly rent | Net 11 lettings | Net 12 lettings |
|---|---|---|
| Under HK$30,000 | 162 | 8 |
| HK$30,000 – HK$49,999 | 74 | 15 |
| HK$50,000 – HK$79,999 | 44 | 12 |
| HK$80,000 – HK$119,999 | 15 | 18 |
| HK$120,000 – HK$199,999 | 6 | 1 |
| HK$200,000 and above | 1 | 2 |
Liquidity. Net 11’s Mid-Levels produced 545 qualifying records in three months against net 12’s 131 — 4.2 times the turnover. That gap matters on both sides of a transaction: it gives a net 11 buyer far more evidence to price against and a net 11 seller a far shorter queue, while a net 12 owner may be pricing off a handful of comparables in the same building.
The most active addresses in the window were, in net 11, The Belcher’s across its two phases with 25 sales and 34 lettings, a Borrett Road development with 14 sales, and a single Pok Fu Lam Road address that alone accounted for 52 of the 302 lettings; in net 12, Illumination Terrace with 10 sales, and Bamboo Grove with 9 lettings.
2. What is on the market now: the listing pools measured
Registered records show what was agreed. Listing pools show what is being asked, how much choice a searcher has, and — because these pools publish a bedroom count and a building age against each entry — what the two nets actually offer in layout and vintage. Platform A’s figures below were read on 9 September 2026 using the same school-net filter applied to the transaction record, so they are directly comparable with the tables above.
| Platform A pool | Net 11 | Net 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Listings for sale | 949 | 265 |
| Listings to let | 214 | 36 |
| Median asking price | HK$16,200,000 | HK$19,800,000 |
| Median asking per sq ft | HK$22,252 | HK$20,811 |
| Median area for sale | 769 sq ft | 967 sq ft |
| Median asking rent | HK$30,000 | HK$48,000 |
| Median asking rent per sq ft | HK$63 | HK$57 |
| Median building age | 33 years | 47 years |
Three readings fall out. First, the pools reproduce the transaction finding exactly: net 12 asks less per square foot for sale (HK$20,811 against HK$22,252) and less per square foot to rent (HK$57 against HK$63), while asking more in total on both. Second, the discipline differs sharply — net 11 asks 11.0 per cent above its achieved median unit price, net 12 only 3.7 per cent. A net 11 buyer therefore has real room between the asking price and the registered evidence; a net 12 buyer has very little, and should not assume the same negotiating space exists. Third, net 11 offers 3.6 times as many flats for sale and 5.9 times as many to let.
Layouts. This is where the two nets stop resembling each other at all.
| Bedrooms, sale listings | Net 11 (949) | Net 12 (265) |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 49 | 4 |
| 1 bedroom | 119 | 10 |
| 2 bedrooms | 312 | 72 |
| 3 bedrooms | 368 | 146 |
| 4 bedrooms | 72 | 26 |
| 5 bedrooms or more | 10 | 6 |
Studios and one-bedroom flats are 17.7 per cent of net 11’s sale pool and 5.3 per cent of net 12’s. Three-bedroom flats are 55.1 per cent of net 12’s pool against 38.8 per cent of net 11’s. Net 12’s Mid-Levels is, in listing terms, a three-bedroom family district with a thin fringe of everything else. The rental pools say the same: 76 of net 11’s 214 lettings are studios or one-bedrooms, against 1 of net 12’s 36.
Building age. The pools sharpen the transaction picture into something starker.
| Age of building, sale listings | Net 11 | Net 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10 years | 89 | 0 |
| 10 – 19 years | 80 | 23 |
| 20 – 29 years | 119 | 30 |
| 30 – 39 years | 369 | 39 |
| 40 – 49 years | 68 | 54 |
| 50 years and above | 164 | 81 |
There is not one flat for sale in net 12’s Mid-Levels in a building under ten years old — against 89 in net 11. Half of net 12’s sale pool sits in buildings of 40 years or more (135 of 227 with an age published). Anyone whose shortlist requires a recent building can stop comparing the two nets on price; the choice has already been made for them.
The second platform. Platform B was read on 10 September 2026. Its district boundaries do not align with the other platform’s, and it carries no school-net filter, so its counts are reported under its own labels and are indicative of depth rather than directly comparable.
| Platform B district | For sale | To let |
|---|---|---|
| Western Mid-Levels | 322 | 146 |
| Mid-Levels Central | 28 | 44 |
| Mid-Levels East (Shiu Fai Terrace) | 3 | 0 |
| Tai Hang | 128 | 82 |
| Jardine’s Lookout | 4 | 5 |
Sampling 65 of the Western Mid-Levels sale listings gives a median asking price of HK$14,000,000 at HK$18,970 per sq ft on a median 768 sq ft; sampling 54 of the Tai Hang listings gives HK$14,650,000 at HK$19,688 on a median 614 sq ft. The Tai Hang median size is well below the other platform’s net 12 figure because this label covers the flat streets of Tai Hang as well as the hillside above them — a useful reminder that two portals can describe the same hillside with different boundaries and produce different medians without either being wrong.
PropMark. Read on 10 September 2026: Mid-Levels West 535 for sale and 161 to let, Mid-Levels Central 199 and 102, Mid-Levels East 201 and 52, Tai Hang 6 and 8 — 734 and 263 on the net 11 side against 207 and 60 on the net 12 side, with Mid-Levels Central straddling as always. A sample of 80 sale listings on the net 11 side shows a median of HK$25,940,000 at HK$26,053 per sq ft on 1,050 sq ft; 54 on the net 12 side show HK$23,000,000 at HK$23,167 on 1,165 sq ft.
3. Comparable listings on PropMark
The listings below were live on PropMark on 10 September 2026 and were chosen because each sits in a band the registered record for its net actually filled. Sizes are saleable area as published.
Net 11, the entry rung. Seventy-four of 243 net 11 sales cleared below HK$10 million and 58 were under 500 sq ft — the rung that does not exist on the other side of the boundary.
| Listing | Saleable area | Asking price | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wah Fai Court | 307 sq ft | HK$5,600,000 | HK$18,241 |
| Central 8 (1 bed) | 310 sq ft | HK$8,500,000 | HK$27,258 |
| Fairview Height (1 bed) | 431 sq ft | HK$8,800,000 | HK$20,418 |
| Caine Building (2 bed) | 436 sq ft | HK$8,900,000 | HK$20,367 |
| Vantage Park (2 bed) | 432 sq ft | HK$9,500,000 | HK$21,944 |
Net 11, the core. A further 74 sales landed between HK$10 million and HK$20 million, at sizes the registered record puts mostly between 500 and 1,100 sq ft.
| Listing | Saleable area | Asking price | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skyview Cliff (3 bed) | 805 sq ft | HK$14,000,000 | HK$17,391 |
| The Grand Panorama (2 bed) | 687 sq ft | HK$14,900,000 | HK$21,689 |
| Goldwin Heights (3 bed) | 811 sq ft | HK$15,800,000 | HK$19,482 |
| 80 Robinson Road (3 bed) | 865 sq ft | HK$25,900,000 | HK$29,919 |
| Conduit 18 (3 bed) | 920 sq ft | HK$26,000,000 | HK$28,261 |
| Park View Court (4 bed) | 1,581 sq ft | HK$26,000,000 | HK$16,445 |
The last two are the clearest illustration of what the net 11 pool offers that net 12’s does not: the same HK$26 million buys 920 sq ft at HK$28,261 per foot in a newer Conduit Road address, or 1,581 sq ft at HK$16,445 in an older one. That 72 per cent spread in unit price inside one price point is what a deep, mixed-vintage pool looks like — and it is why the 11.0 per cent gap between net 11 asking and achieved rates rewards a buyer who has read the register.
Net 12, such entry stock as exists. The registered record for net 12 contains no sale below 500 sq ft, and only 5 below HK$10 million. The compact listings that do exist sit at the foot of the hill rather than on it, which is precisely the point.
| Listing | Saleable area | Asking price | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Sun Chun Street | 271 sq ft | HK$3,500,000 | HK$12,915 |
| Ming Sun Building (2 bed) | 533 sq ft | HK$5,800,000 | HK$10,882 |
| 10A-11A Sun Chun Street (2 bed) | 415 sq ft | HK$6,800,000 | HK$16,386 |
| China Tower | 513 sq ft | HK$8,200,000 | HK$15,984 |
Net 12, the working band. Twenty-seven of 75 net 12 sales fell between HK$10 million and HK$20 million and a further 14 between HK$20 million and HK$30 million — the district’s real centre of gravity.
| Listing | Saleable area | Asking price | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon Heights (3 bed) | 956 sq ft | HK$20,000,000 | HK$20,921 |
| Y.I (3 bed) | 825 sq ft | HK$20,000,000 | HK$24,242 |
| Serenade | 788 sq ft | HK$21,000,000 | HK$26,650 |
Set the Yukon Heights listing against the net 11 table: 956 sq ft at HK$20,921 per foot in net 12, against 920 sq ft at HK$28,261 in net 11. On unit price the eastern side is the cheaper of the two — by 26 per cent — which is exactly what the median comparison predicted and the opposite of the folk wisdom.
Rental comparables, net 11. Matched to a record whose median letting was HK$27,000 on 518 sq ft.
| Listing | Saleable area | Asking rent | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ho Shing Lau | 323 sq ft | HK$16,500 | HK$51.08 |
| 29 Mosque Junction | 332 sq ft | HK$19,000 | HK$57.23 |
| Caine Hill | 289 sq ft | HK$22,000 | HK$76.12 |
| Castle One By V (1 bed) | 446 sq ft | HK$30,000 | HK$67.26 |
| Bonham Crest (2 bed) | 555 sq ft | HK$31,800 | HK$57.30 |
| Bonanza Court (3 bed) | 600 sq ft | HK$33,000 | HK$55.00 |
| No. 31 Robinson Road (3 bed) | 1,005 sq ft | HK$60,000 | HK$59.70 |
Rental comparables, net 12. Matched to a record whose median letting was HK$55,000 on 1,095 sq ft.
| Listing | Saleable area | Asking rent | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grandview Mansion (2 bed) | 480 sq ft | HK$21,000 | HK$43.75 |
| The Notting Hill (2 bed) | 570 sq ft | HK$28,000 | HK$49.12 |
| Mandarin Villa (2 bed) | 629 sq ft | HK$33,000 | HK$52.46 |
| Alpha Court (2 bed) | 992 sq ft | HK$49,800 | HK$50.20 |
| Yukon Heights (3 bed) | 1,001 sq ft | HK$50,000 | HK$49.95 |
| Park Garden (3 bed) | 1,161 sq ft | HK$84,000 | HK$72.35 |
Read the two rental tables side by side and the arithmetic that governs this whole comparison appears once more: net 12’s asking rates cluster in the high forties and low fifties per square foot while net 11’s run from the mid fifties into the seventies — and yet almost every net 12 line costs the tenant more per month, because almost every net 12 flat is bigger.
Part 2: Lifestyle and Amenities
Getting around
Neither net’s Mid-Levels has an MTR station, and the hillside is steep enough that the difference between two addresses 200 metres apart can be a flight of steps and ten minutes. What separates the two sides is how that problem has been solved.
Net 11’s Mid-Levels has the Central–Mid-Levels Escalator, the world’s longest outdoor covered escalator system, which runs downhill through the morning peak and uphill for the rest of the day. It is not a novelty: it is the spine of the district, it is free, it is covered in the rain, and it delivers residents into Central without a vehicle. Around it sits a dense bus and green-minibus network, and the Island line stations at the foot of the hill are walkable downhill from much of Mid-Levels West — though the return journey is the reason the escalator exists. The practical consequence is that a large part of net 11’s Mid-Levels is genuinely car-optional.
Net 12’s side has nothing equivalent. Mid-Levels East, above Bowen Road and Stubbs Road, is served by buses and minibuses and by taxis, and most households there keep a car. Tai Hang Mid-Levels is the exception on this side: the streets below it run down into Tai Hang proper and on to Tin Hau and Causeway Bay within a walk, which is why that pocket behaves more like an urban district than a hillside one. If a household is choosing between the nets and does not want to run a car, this paragraph matters more than any price table above.
Daily conveniences
Net 11’s Mid-Levels is exceptionally well served, because the escalator corridor doubles as a retail street. Supermarkets, pharmacies, clinics, wet-market stalls and one of the densest concentrations of restaurants and bars in the city sit within a few minutes of it, and the whole of Central’s retail and office core is a downhill walk. Errands here rarely require planning.
Net 12’s Mid-Levels is quieter in every sense. Mid-Levels East has very little retail of its own; daily needs are met by driving or by descending to Wan Chai or Happy Valley. Tai Hang, again, is different: its converted low-rise streets carry an unusually good run of independent cafes, restaurants and small shops, and Causeway Bay’s full retail weight is minutes away on foot. The two halves of net 12’s Mid-Levels are not really one place, and a buyer comparing them should not treat them as such.
The neighbourhood environment
Both sides deliver what the Mid-Levels is bought for: elevation, air, greenery and a measurable drop in street noise against the districts below. The character of that elevation differs. Net 11’s hillside is built up densely and vertically — towers on narrow terraced plots, with views that depend heavily on what is in front of the flat and can be lost to a later development. Net 12’s side is lower-rise and more spread out, with more mature planting and a higher proportion of low-density blocks; Bowen Road’s car-free fitness trail runs along the contour and is one of the best urban walking routes on the island.
The trade-off is the one the age tables already described. Net 12’s greener, quieter setting comes packaged almost entirely in older buildings, with the management-fee, maintenance and major-works exposure that implies. Net 11 offers newer stock and better services, in a denser and noisier setting.
The atmosphere
Net 11’s Mid-Levels is a working district with a young, international, high-turnover population: a great many one and two-bedroom flats, a large rental market, and residents who came for the walk to Central. It is busy, convenient and impersonal in the way that suits people at that stage.
Net 12’s Mid-Levels is settled and residential. Larger flats, longer tenures, more families, more cars, less footfall. Tai Hang adds a genuine neighbourhood identity to the eastern side — its mid-autumn fire dragon dance is among the best-known community traditions in Hong Kong — but the hillside above Bowen Road is quiet to the point of seclusion, and that is exactly what its residents pay for.
Part 3: Conclusion — the pros and cons of each side
The finding that should reframe the search. The two nets charge the same for Mid-Levels floor space: HK$20,048 against HK$20,076 per square foot at the median, a difference of one part in seven hundred. Every headline difference in price — the 42 per cent gap in median consideration, the doubling of median rent — is a difference in the size of the unit on offer, not in the value of the postcode. Buyers who believe they are paying a school-net premium in net 12 are, on this evidence, simply buying a bigger flat.
Where net 11 wins. It has an entry point and net 12 does not: 58 sales under 500 sq ft and 74 under HK$10 million in the quarter, against 0 and 5. It has newer stock, with 89 flats for sale in buildings under ten years old against none at all. It has layout choice, with 17.7 per cent of its sale pool in studios and one-bedrooms against 5.3 per cent. It has 4.2 times the transaction volume, which means better price discovery and a shorter exit queue. It has the escalator, and with it the option of living without a car. And it asks 11.0 per cent above its achieved rates, which is negotiating room for anyone who checks the register first.
Where net 12 wins. Floor space is cheaper: HK$20,811 per square foot asked against net 11’s HK$22,252, and HK$57 per square foot to rent against HK$63. The setting is greener, quieter and lower-rise, with Bowen Road on the doorstep. Flats are substantially larger for the money, which for a family needing three real bedrooms is the whole argument. Sellers price closer to reality — a 3.7 per cent gap between asking and achieved — so there is less theatre in a negotiation. And Tai Hang offers something net 11 cannot: a walkable, characterful neighbourhood at the bottom of the hill.
Where each loses. Net 11 is dense, noisy and building-dependent for views; its cheapest stock is small and much of it is old; and the 11.0 per cent asking gap means a careless buyer overpays. Net 12 has no small flats, no new buildings, half its sale pool over 40 years old, a rental market of 36 listings that offers a tenant almost no choice, and a car requirement across most of Mid-Levels East. Its thin turnover also cuts both ways: fewer comparables when buying, and a longer wait when selling.
Who should choose which. If the budget is under about HK$15 million, or a compact flat is wanted, or a building under ten years old is on the requirement list, or the household will not run a car, the comparison is already settled in net 11’s favour — not on preference but on availability. If the requirement is three or more bedrooms, a quiet green setting and the best price per square foot, and a car is a given, net 12 delivers more space for the money and a calmer place to use it. And in either case: check the specific street address against the current official school-net allocation before making an offer. Mid-Levels Central split 77 records to net 11 and 33 to net 12 in a single quarter, and no district label will tell you which side a particular building falls on.
Transaction figures are registered sale and letting records for Mid-Levels West, Mid-Levels Central, Mid-Levels East and Tai Hang Mid-Levels covering 9 June to 9 September 2026, read on 9 September 2026 and assigned to a school net using the school-net field carried in the transaction record; 545 records in net 11 and 131 in net 12 disclosed both a consideration and a saleable area, and only those were counted. Listing pools were read from one Hong Kong listing platform on 9 September 2026 and from a second platform and PropMark on 10 September 2026, with sample sizes stated. Subsidised-sale housing is excluded throughout. Listing counts and asking prices change daily, and school-net allocations are set by the Education Bureau and can change.