Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

I came across an interesting article about the history of Ma Wan by Phillip Jones in a book called "Hong Kong Discovery". His article called "The Road to Salvation" contains historical photos of the island, and notes that for most of the last 200 years Ma Wan was an isolated community, basically sustained by farming and fishing. He talks about a visit by the British in 1794, the occasional visit by pirates, and how there was a Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs checkpoint set up on Ma Wan in 1897. He writes about the Chan family, who are still influential land owners on the island, the changes faced by the fishing and shrimp industries in the 1950s and 1960s and HK made its change to it modern economy, and also about the history and changes brought about by the Lantau Link, and the rapid development that occurred once Ma Wan became "connected" to the rest of Hong Kong. Interestingly the article itself is now part of history - I think it was probably wri

The most common way to rent an apartment on Park Island is just to come over, and visit one of the estate agents on the Island and ask them to show you apartments in your price range. Take a look at a range of apartments, make a note of the ones you like (based on size, views, configuration, etc) and then make offers. There are still some bargains here, compared to HK Island.  Hong Kong Property Advertisement  If you see adverts for property in Chinese like this, its quite easy to work out. Here for example, they are asking $35,000 for a 1238 square foot apartment on Park Island. All the agents speak English, so I would suggest you just go in and chat to them and see what they can show you. And don't forget to negotiate. Its usual to seek 10% off the asking price on a property advertised for rent. If you come across as a desirable tenant, the landlord might well be willing to accept a lower rent in return for knowing the place will be well looked after and that the rent wi

Interesting to read today that Sun Hun Kai (the developer of Park Island) is likely to price its new Tuen Mun project at a minimum of $13,000 psf. The development called Century Gateway is due for completion in the third quarter of 2013. It also appears that someone was a little naughty in advertising the development for sale before official approval had been granted. See the article here: Century Gateway Apartments for Sale If these prices are correct, it again makes Park Island look remarkably cheap. Sooner or later price arbitrage must take place, with Park Island coming up in price to other similar developments, of course taking into account all factors such as location, transport, schooling, facilities, etc.

Park Island prices are close to record highs, (but still very cheap in my opinion). Park Island Property Prices As you can see from the graph, prices on Park Island seem to be maintaining their gradual accent. The correction in October-December 2011 was I think due to the panic over Greece defaulting on its debt. As Park Island is very much end-user driven, rather then speculative, I think prices will continue, over time to steadily rise. Perhaps not as sharply as places like the Mid Levels during "hot" times, but also they will not decline as sharply during "cold" times.

Ocean view from Park Island Here is a quite impressive Park Island photo (I took from another website) of a night view from Park Island across the ocean. Really quite stunning on a clear night. If you are after an apartment in Hong Kong with ocean views, consider Park Island as a very  affordable option.

Some cool work done here by Layers Painting Workshop on a Park Island apartment. If you are interested in having something like this done call them to arrange a proposal (details below): EMAIL: layers@layerspaint.com CANDY: 9280 3250 ZOEY: 6108 4784 Layers Painting Workshop Apartment Painting Park Island Apartment done by Layers Painting Workshop

We have snakes on our island (and I'm referring not to the real-state agents, but rather REAL snakes). I took photos of this snake on Ma Wan beach on Saturday. OK, well its actually just the skin of a snake, but if that's the skin, I would hate to imagine the size of the owner of the skin! If anyone sees the actual snake, please send me a photo. I am not sure how big snakes in Hong Kong can get, but this was a big one. A Hong Kong snake skin A snake on Ma Wan beach A snake on Park Island beach Close up of the snake's head