The catch is that property developers are turning the decrepit buildings, abandoned when most businesses fled a crime-wave for the northern suburbs in the early 1990s, into swanky apartment blocks, and property prices have been rocketing.

• 上世纪90年代初，多数商业公司因为要远离原所在地的犯罪高潮而搬迁到北郊，吊诡之处在于，房地产开发商将他们遗弃的破楼改造成了时尚公寓街区，而房价也一路上涨。