Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

Ancapri Club House on Park Island Above is an illustration of the Anacapri facilities on Park Island, including the Apacapri pool and BBQ facilities on Anacapri. I find the club house very nice, especially the pool facilities. The pool and outdoor common area has a classy modern design, and is of a high quality. One thing I often look at with a new development is to consider how it will look in 10 years time. For some developments, facilities look nice brand new, but then look terrible after a few years of aging, as materials used start to decay. For Anacapri, my sense is that long-lasting and high qualitiy materials have been used. So the pool area and club house should "age well" and I think will retain their classy look with the passage of time. What is not shown here, and probably the most spectacular feature, is the way the pool looks over to the ocean when you are in it, creating the "infinity pool" effect. Many pools in Hong Kong face a wall, or othe

My recent post post about the history of Ma Wan  History of Ma Wan  inspired a friend of mine who came from overseas in Hong Kong, to take a big hike around Ma Wan Island. I took a bunch of photos during our walk, some of which came out really well, and if I do say do myself, some are actually quite artistic. I am going to post these up in various parts on this blog, along with my comments. I hope my photos will encourage people to come over and spend a day hiking on Ma Wan. There are really some quite spectacular and unique things to see! Hiking up Ma Wan Island This is the path we took to the top of the Peak on Ma Wan. It's quite an easy walk. You go under the Tsing Ma bridge from Park Island, and find your way up the mountain.  I spotted this dog, which at first thought was a wild dog as it was timid, but I then saw its owner coming the other way. I actually saw only very few people during most parts of the walk. Park Island Estate You can see here the view from the

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.