Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

We have seen a number of recent announcements from the Government pushing e-cars (and also cleaner fuel ferries). For example: https://www.asiaone.com/asia/hong-kong-phase-out-fossil-fuel-cars-and-go-all-electric-minister-says https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3035165/hong-kong-phase-out-fossil-fuel-cars-and-go-all The reports all indicate plans for Hong Kong plans to phase out all fossil fuel vehicles over the next 10 to 20 years and switch to electric modes of commercial and public transport with a view to improving air quality, One commonly cited objection to those who are opposed to more residents owning cars on Ma Wan / Park Island is that residents want "clean air" and chose Park Island "to be away from pollution". Whilst I personally doubt that normal cars would add any significant noticeable "pollution" on Ma Wan, I do think that the idea of electric cars only for Ma Wan would be great. These cars are ...

My last post on the Park Island blog was titled  Well that didn't take long . I was referring to the admirable community spirit of Ma Wan residents cleaning up after Hong Kong got hit my massive typhoon, but I could just as well have used that same title for the subject of today's topic, which is about the rapid recovery of the Hong Kong property market. Take a look at the graph of Park Island property prices for 2019: Park Island Price Graph 2019 Look at that massive spike that has taken place over the last few weeks. This price increase has been mirrored across the Hong Kong property market generally, but the upward trend for Park Island has been particularly sharp. Why? Well, at a general level, we have the US Fed reducing its outlook for rate rises in 2019. This is positive globally for assets (as assets are usually financed using debt, and if the cost of debt is lower then assets become more "affordable"). In Hong Kong this effect is even ...