Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

I spoke to two agents today who told me that the price for the villas will be HKD 20,000 per square foot. They will apparently officially launch some time in the next 4-6 months.

I sampled the new gourmet burgers at Cafe Romas a few days ago. I must say, the burgers are EXCELLENT! I can't recall the price (around $60 or $70) from memory, but well worth it if you want a quality burger with quality ground beef, caramalized onions, fresh tomatoes, etc. Mmmmmmmmm. Secondly, I went for the first time to try the Thai restaurant. The name is Pattaya Island Thai Restaurant (or something like that). Its the last restaurant along the beach towards the Noah's Ark. I am always quite reluctant to eat Thai food in HK as its often made by a Chinese chef catered to Chinese tastes, and does not taste like real Thai food at all. I ordered a sammple entre platter, which consisted of spring rolls, chicken in bamboo leaves, fish cakes etc. I would rate it as OK, perhaps 6/10. Definately eadible while drinking a nice cold beer. I also ordered a green curry chicken with rice. That was much better, and tasted relatively authentic. I'd give it an 8/10. Certainly quite OK -...

I just checked out the latest prices for Park Island transactions. The graph from Centadata is here: Park Island Property Price Graph According to Centadata, which is the data published by Centerline Property, prices are up 5% so far this month. They list an average price of $5995 per square foot, which seems low to me, when you look at current asking prices which seem to be on average around 6500-6800 per square foot, and around 12000 per square foot for the top floor penthouses and luxury apartments on Park Island. Also interesting to note is the transaction volume in the graph. The data reflects what agents have been saying, which is that this month has been quite active. With around 10 days to go before the month ends, it looks like monthly transactions for June apartment sales will have been quite healthy.

One of the spectacular features for some of the Park Island apartments, is the view of the Tsing Ma bridge, which supports not only motor vehicle traffic in Hong Kong, but also into which the MTR airport express train is encased. (The trains runs along the underside of the bridge, although it is encased in a kind of "tunnel". Imagine how awesome the view from the train windows woud be without the "tunnel" under the bridge. Anyhow, the bridge at night is all light up in the evenings (much like many international bridges are), and really is quite beautiful to look at. But, I have never actually seen the lights come on. Until today, when at exactly 7pm, the lights all come on one by one, starting at both sides of the bridge, and meeting in the middle. Not sure if its always 7pm, but if you ever want to see the light coming on, I think 7pm is the time it will take place! A few photos below. I took these with a camera phone, so if you have a better quality photo, plea...

It appears the Park Island Ferry Terminal from Central to Park Island is getting a full makeover. Does anyone know exactly what they are doing? Are they adding a restaurant, or small bars etc in the terminal? I have heard it speculated that the makeover was requested by Sun Hun Kai who want it all in top shape before launching the final phase of Park Island villas.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has ordered local banks to tighten down-payment ratios for home buyers for the fourth time in the past two years as part of an ongoing attempt to control the rates of surging property prices in Hong Kong. Buyers of homes costing more than HK$10 million will be required to increase up-front payments to 50 percent, it was announced on Friday. For properties valued between HK$7 million and HK$10 million, home buyers will have to pay 40 percent up front with the maximum loan amount capped at HK$5 million. Buyers of properties valued below HK$7 million can still make a down-payment of 30 percent with the loan capped at HK$4.2 million. Home prices in HK continue to rise, both as a result of ultra-low mortgage rates which appear to stay low for an "extended period of time", an due to an influx of mainland buyers, tight land supply and increased demand by foreigners wanting to move to Hong Kong as a base for business activities across Asi...

Here are a bunch of photos I have taken over the past year or so, related to Park Island, Ma Wan beaches: