Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

I noticed this weekend, a big influx in people looking at Park Island as an investment, Chatting to various people who had stopped by at Cafe Roma for a drink in between house hunting, it seemed the people looking to rent or buy had only recently "discovered" Park Island. All seem very plesently suprised at how nice it it - kind of like they have found something special that not many people back on HK island know about. The typical person I spoke to seems to be from Europe, and thus has a preference for clean air and good facilities. Or young couples, who want the best place for their children in terms of air quality and environment. I also saw a few mainlanders, who were actually very nice to speak to. They were very eager to buy as an investment and holiday home for when they visit HK, rather than just staying in hotel.

I took a look at the new phase of villas built on park island yesterday. The quality looks good, and the views over the ocean are fantastic. Some of the villas have their own outdoor grass gardens, with BBQ's etc. There is also a communal area for the residents to BBQ, which is right on the edge of the ocean. Nice!!! In terms of price, last year agents had been predicting these would sell at $10,000 to $12,000 HKD per square foot. Now most seem to be saying that when these properties are finally sold it will be more like $15,000. They are clearly going to be appealing to wealthy families, seeking a nice clean living environment in Hong Kong, so I would expect the owners to mainly rich Chinese for self use, or who might then rent these to ex-pats from large international companies.

Here are a bunch of photos from Park Island. They are taken with a i-phone camera, but seem to come up OK. Main town area near the ferry terminal of Park Island. You can see the nice trees and clean open space. Piazza on Park Island Beauty Salon on Park Island (there are numerous spas, salons, etc, including one very high-end spa managed by the Banyon Tree hotel group). Park Island Beauty Spa Local 7/11 and Park and Shop. The Park and Shop is excellent by the way. Its huge, and also has fresh live seafood delivered for sale each day. Park Island 7 Eleven Park and Shop on Park Island Park N Shop Park & Shop Seafood Wine from Park and Shop on Ma Wan A Park Island apartment building and also the view from one of the balconys. Park Island apartments Park Island apartment towers Park Island Complex Balcony view from Park Island Two of the pools on Park Island . Park Island Pool (Outside) Park Island swimming pool  A view of...

Park Island Tower Everyone on Park Island has an opinion on which tower is best, telling you x Tower is best as it get the most sun, faces the best direction, and so on. I personally prefer the outward facing apartments that have ocean views and these do command a higher price. Higher floors also mean a higher price. And apartments that have balconies tend to be higher priced than those without Some will prefrer certain towers that get more sunlight. Others prefer towers that get less sunlight. There is one tower that is closest to where they treat the serwage on Park Island, which might be slightly lower priced as a result of that location. This photo is the "prestigious" tower 5 Park Island. For a range of reasons Tower 5 apparently is the best tower on the island. It has the best location, apparently, from a Fung Shui perspective. It is the tower closest to HK island, so apparently "captures the wealth" from Hong Kong, and brings good fortune to the own...

Good news for those people who want a 24 hour taxi on Park Island. Up until now, taxis are only allowed between 8pm at night to 7am in the morning. It seems this is about to change The latest Park Island residents newsletter notes that the majority of residents polled in a questionnaire by the Transport Department voted in favour of permanent taxi access. Whilst it is accepted that permanent taxi access might increase property values by 5%, the concern some residents have is that more access would make the island less exclusive, and more accessible by non-residents. There also also those who feel taxis are no eco-friendly, and that we should continue to encourage only mass public transport such as the buses and ferries. It seems a decision will be made in the next few months. There was also some talk of putting an electric car charging station on the island and then letting electric cars and hybrids access the island. On another note, the sky over park island was full of ...

I thought it would be interesting to compare the official data with my own observations. According to the most recent Hong Kong Government Census data: -The average is 33 years old. This seems somewhat young to me, but I think the data must be skewed as so many people with children live on Park Island. With so many families with kids 1 to 10 years of age on the island, I think this must bring the average age well down. Also many air hostess live on the island, and they must range between 22-30 years of age, -The average employment income for Park Island residents is double the average for Hong Kong, and the average household income Park Island residents is triple the the average for Hong Kong. At first these figures seem a surprise. One would think that the wealthy people live in the Mid Levels in Hong Kong (and I am sure they do). But the reason why Park Island ranks well above average is probably because this is all private apartments (not Government housing) and probably because ...

There is an article here in Chinese http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/101117/4/lb1q.html  which reports that a luxury apartment sold a few days ago on Park Island for over 10,000 per square foot at HKD $19.75m. The apartment is 1880 square foot, 33rd floor, block 31. It comes with an 800 square foot balcony, and access to the rooftop and fully open views. No doubt amazing for entertaining etc. This is a new record for Park Island, and to me confirms the changing profile of people who are moving to Park Island.