Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

If you support the development of an MTR station for Park Island, please send your views and support to: Ben LO Senior Engineer/Technical Service 1 Railway Development Office Highways Department sets1.rdo@hyd.gov.hk You can of course also send and promote your view to as many other sources as you wish - it all helps. For example, ceo@ceo.gov.hk . As readers of the Park Island blogger may know, the Government is reviewing the long-term railway strategy and carrying out Stage 2 Public Engagement exercise on seven local enhancment schemes. Upon completion of the Public Engagement exercise, the consultant will optimise the planning for major regional railway corridors and local enhancement schemes based on the views collected at both stages of the exercise. The entire study is expected to be completed in 2013. The Government will consider the consultant’s final recommendations and explore the way forward for different railway projects having regard to transport dem

Asking prices for Anacapri are apparently from 50K and upwards. A number of agents have shown the apartments to prospective tenants, only to have some decide to move to a Park Island tower apartment, which was not the initial intention of the prospective tenants when they came for a viewing. If you are an Anacapri tenant, or owner, please feel free to post here and tell us what its like!

The Government is seeking views on future MTR stations for Hong Kong here:  Our Future MTR Lines If you support an MTR station for Ma Wan, Park Island, please send an email expressing your views here: enquiry@ourfuturerailway.hk  Every email, comment, phone call etc from a Hong Kong resident supporting this will help. It takes just five minutes, so please do take the time to express your support for this, and please forward this to others and encourage them to respond. An MTR station might also be a compromise between those who want private car access to Park Island and those who prefer a focus on enhancement of public transport options.

Readers, I have received this email below.: Hello, I am an architecture student in London. We visited Hong Kong in November as part of a field trip and it was an unforgettable experience. I have a few questions about Ma Wan island if anyone is willing to help me please. I have noticed the Care village on the map. What is the village exactly about? I am working on a design proposal for a clinic in Ma Wan village. If you have any interesting information about the village to share please do so.. What is the atmosphere/ambiance of the village? What are the inhabitants like? If any of you wish to get in contact and/or assist this person, please feel free to post your details on this comments section, or email me and I will pass on your details to him,

Posting this advert in case anyone wants to rent a nice apartment on Ma Wan I have a flat with rooftop for rent. 1532sft and it is 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms plus a maid quarter.   Original renovation.   Would like to rent for close to $50000. Available in 2 weeks. If you could let me know if anyone is interested?   Best Regards, Lily c2006@hotmail.com

Park Island Property Prices rose 8.5% over the last month. I won't go over the many reasons for this again, as I have posted on this before, for example: http://parkislandhongkong.blogspot.com/2013/02/park-island-property-prices-are-poised.html http://parkislandhongkong.blogspot.com/2012/09/park-island-property-prices-new-records.html Click here to view the latest published statistical information on  Park Island Property Prices . Park Island property remains exceptional value at current prices compared to property in almost all other part of Hong Kong, so I would expect that prices are likely to keep rising. I will shortly post an update on the latest Park Island ferry, taxi, and bus schedules. A reminder that if you support the proposal for Private Car Parking for Park Island Residents, there is a petition you can sign here:  Park Island Resident's Car Parking Petition. That's it for now. The Park Island Blogger

Today's SCMP reports that property developer HKR International plans to build six "super-deluxe" houses ranging in size from 6,000 to 8,000 square feet on Discovery Bay. "Each house will enjoy spectacular sea views and the project will be located next to the Discovery Bay Golf Club," said Chan Chi-ming, the head of the Hong Kong business unit at HKR, the developer of Discovery Bay. Agents said the houses planned by HKR could fetch more than HK$150 million each (which by the way makes our most expensive apartments on Park Island look very cheap by comparison!). "Due to their scarcity, they will be sought-after by the rich and famous.". There are 17 houses on Discovery Bay, each of them 5,168 sq ft, with gardens ranging from 6,000 to 9,000 sq ft. One of the houses on Seabee Lane is on the market for HK$120 million. Negotiations with the government over the land premium payable for the proposed project, which will be the 16th phase

Property agents around Park Island are reporting strong buying demand for Park Island properties as primarily Hong Kong investors appear to see significant gains ahead for Park Island property as a result of end-user demand. Some agents are forecasting a price of $10,000 psf for regular apartments to be reached by early 2014. I think this is possible but more likely by the end of 2014 or early 2015. Below is the most recent price graph for Park Island, just out today, which seems to confirm this trend. Park Island Price Graph At the end of the graph you can see spike of 5.5% rise in prices over the last month. The themes and the factors driving the continued rises are nothing new. Park Island is great value, excellent quality, and still very affordable compared to almost all other parts of Hong Kong. Borrowing costs are very affordable (and seem poised to remain so for some time yet), and Hong Kong residents are increasingly realizing that they need to preserve the value

Property agents are reporting a strong pick up in activity over the last few weeks as transactions start increasing again. Demand is strong form first time buyers wanting to get into the market for smaller apartments, and also apparently very strong from families who have either been renting, or had a smaller place, wanting to upgrade to larger sized places. I was sent this advert recently by the way by a private seller of a so called "combined unit" Park Island apartment: http://admart.asia/en/HongKong/Property/Apartment-for-Sale/page1/36220 . It might be a of interest to people seeking a larger home. Its hard to tell what will happen to the market and what if any other measures the Government puts in place to discourage people form selling, but my guess would be we will see 8-10% gains in prices per year over the next few years, as interest rates look like remaining at rock bottom lows for some time to come, and demand for Hong Kong property keeps rising w

Many expats (and locals too I should add) move to Park Island, but then want to renovate their apartments to suit their tastes. Expats typically want to go for a more modern, smart, simple,clean elegant look, whereas traditional Chinese often want to put in more cupboards, built-in storage, built in bed-bunks, false ceilings, etc. (Yes, obviously a generalization, and note I am not saying one style is better than the other, although personally I prefer the ex-pat style. Today I am going to post up some great renovation pictures of the ex-pat"style I mentioned above, taken from project done by in interior design firm called Primo Casa Interiors Ltd  http://www.primocasa.com/  who do high-end and stylish designs in Hong Kong. From the photos, it seems the apartment is a 2brm apartment, perhaps around 700 sqft, which for Hong Kong is the size of apartment that often houses 2 parents, one or two children, a grandparent and a maid. In the present case, it looks designed f

I received this letter below from the Town Planning Board, regarding the process that needs to be followed if a private car park is to be granted on Park Island: The submission should be made either by hand or by post to "Secretary, Town Planning Board, 15/F, North Point Government Offices,333 Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong". You may also wish to make reference to "Guidance Notes 10 - Application for Amendment of Plan Under Section 12A of The Town Planning Ordinance" (http://www.info.gov.hk/tpb/en/plan_application/apply.html#pa_12a) for detailed information regarding the submission. Thanks. Alexander W. Y. MAK TP/KT(1), TWKDPO, PlanD

Well, you heard it from me first in my earlier post on the Park Island blog: http://parkislandhongkong.blogspot.sg/2012/10/247-taxi-access-is-coming-to-park-island.html I can now confirm, Park Island has been opened up to 24/7 taxi access. I really feel this is long over due, and I suspect the reason why it was not granted sooner was that the ferry service operator was trying to protect its monopoly on public access to Park Island. A number of people predicted this would happen, and they clearly were now correct. We must again thanks Justin Tseng who has been pushing for open taxi access to be granted. In my earlier post I speculated that if confirmed, the increased taxi access might lead to minor price increases on Park Island, as higher income earners, who are less prices sensitive and who are willing to pay extra for the ease of taxis rather than the ferry or the bus, will be more inclined to rent or buy on Park Island knowing that Park Island has 24/7 taxi acc

I have heard that District counsellor Justin Tseng has proposed a multi-story carpark for Ma Wan along with a Ma Wan MTR station to the Government and also to property developer Sun Hung Kai. The location proposed iss under Tsing Ma Bridge (currently a football field). Cars would access the building with a short bridge from Ma Wan Road. If you have any details on this proposal, please do let me know. Justin, if you are reading this please feel free to post here and elaborate also.

Here she is! Those of you who use the gym on Park Island might see her occasionally :)

We have another cantopop star living on Park Island. Does anyone know who she is? Here's a hint. She is young and she is cute. I even know which block she lives in, but which one, I am not telling. Here's a digitally semi-disguised photo taken in the elevator. I will expose her next week :) Who is this Cantopop star living on Park Island?

The sun sets over the ocean at Ma Wan Let's move away, for a moment, from the on-going focus on rising property prices in Hong Kong. I'm not going to claim credit for this photo. It was sent to me by a Park Island blog reader. But I love the photo, and it captures so well the peaceful feeling you get if you have an apartment facing in this direction on Park Island as the sun sets, perhaps with a beer or a cigar in your hand, sitting on the balcony unwinding a little after a hard day in "the city".

In my last post Tung Wan Beach to be widened , I reported the good news that the main beach on Ma Wan, used by Park Island residents, is going to be significantly widened with plans for an even wider flat sandy beach.  I now have some further good news to report, this time regarding transport on to Ma Wan! The Tseun Wan District Counsel has just recommended and approved a further easing of transport restrictions to Park Island for taxis. I can confirm that the recommendation was also approved by Hong Kong's Transport Department. It appears that the transport department has approved two major changes. First, taxi access will be opened up to Park Island for weekends as well as weekdays. T he hours of access will be extended such that taxi access will move towards an eventual 24/7 schedule. I think the relaxed restrictions will be welcomed by mothers with kids and prams, and late night revellers returning from Central alike. Secondly, the taxi operation area

Park Island Transport Company Limited (PITCL) was established to provide high quality bus and ferry services to/from Ma Wan Island. They are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, the company that developed Park Island. Here is the link of the Park Island Transport Company: http://www.pitcl.com.hk/eng/html/index.asp Information about the Park Island bus schedule here: http://www.pitcl.com.hk/eng/html/bus.htm Information about the Park Island ferry schedule here: http://www.pitcl.com.hk/eng/html/ferry.htm The contact details fot the Park Island bus and Park Island ferry services are as follows: General Enquiry -Tel: 2946 8888 (24-hour automatic telephone system), 2946 8899 (Operator during office hours) Email: enquiry@pitcl.com.hk Address: 1/F, Park Island Ferry Pier, 8 Pak Lai Road, Ma Wan, N.T., Hong Kong

Park Island Residents! Today I have some very good news to report. Our main beach on Park Island, Tung Wan beach is going to G R O W It will be made significantly wider. We are going to get more sand added, significantly more, which will provide for a broad, wide, and extended flat beach, care of the Hong Kong Government. Government approval for the project has already been granted, and a tender for these works will go out shortly. The beach improvement works will mainly involve filling of sand in an area of about 3.47 ha of foreshore and sea-bed to extend the sandy area of the Tung Wan Beach. To give you a sense of the size and scale of the improvement, the sandy area of the beach will increase from about 3,400m2 currently to about 15,000m2. So around a 5 times the increase in the current sandy beach area. In the map below you can see, marked in red where the new sand extension will go: Tung Wan beach extension plans marked on a map  Below you can see an aerial

Readers, I received the following email from Louise Westin, from Sweco Infrastructure, in Stockholm. If you feel like helping her and making contact with her, please feel free to do so. Dear Park Island Blogger, Thank you for your help about where to find information about Park Island and Ma Wan! Now I wonder if perhaps you maybe could give me some answers to my questions to? I would really appreciate your help! I am planning a study-trip to Hong Kong, for a group of approximately 100 traffic planers, urban planners and engineers. On our study-trip to Hong Kong, we have scheduled an visit to Ma Wan and the residential area Park Island. We have not yet sorted out exactly how the visit will be organized, but one idea is to handle out some information material before we visit the Island. This is the reason way I am writing to you, I wonder if you could post a question on the wall of your group. I wonder how the residents on Ma Wan experience that the traffic system to and fr