They certainly are in plenty of neighborhoods - especially compared to other cities in China. The thing is that despite the tall buildings there isn't actually that much supply on HK island itself because it's so tiny. Still, I think there's a much bigger range relative to overall quality of urban life compared to, say, SF. And things get a lot more affordable across the harbor in Kowloon and in the New Territories. Though, even there it's probably not cheap compared to most cities in mainland China.

I'm far from an expert on this though, and maybe I'm off base here. I've just spent time there and looked at real estate and been struck by how not impossible it was to find reasonable places at reasonable prices compared to the Bay Area.