Apartment on Park Island rents for $67,000 a month!

Not all of my posts will be related to property prices, but obviously rental and sales prices are always a topic of interest.

Last week, an apartment of approx 1500 square foot, with a large rooftop and absolute ocean views rented for $67K a month. I am familiar with these types of apartments. They are either approx 1500 sqf with internal steps up to a private rooftop, approx 1500 sqf which opens up to a very large balcony. Two or three years ago you could rent them for around 25-28K. Last year the price range was aroud 30-35K. This year, in my opinion, they are still available in the 40-45K range. So the news that one rented for 67K was really quite interesting to me.

I found out a little more about the apartment and its new tenant. First the apartment - it is nicely rennovated, modern style, suitable for the taste of a typical Westerner ex-pat. The rooftop also has some nice additions - large pot plants, some outdoor furniture etc. So this shows, that spending a bit on Western tastes will result in a better rental return. It has absolute ocean views facing the bridge which is quite a spectacular view when its lit up in the evenings.

As for the tenant, he is apparently a European business man, who had two key priorities. First he wanted a modern place, with open ocean views and clean air. Secondly he needed a place that he could entertain clients at. He wanted to be able to regularly invite guests for evening drinks, weekend BBQ, dinners etc. I presume, although I am not sure, thay he might travel for business, so the easy access to the airport in HK might also be an attraction.

As I said earlier I believe that in general one could still rent some of these types of apartments for 40-45K or so, in some cases, but I do think over time, perhaps by the end of this year 50K might become the "standard price" for these kinds of apartments. When you look at what 50K gets you in a place like the Mid Levels, or Repulse Bay, there really is nothing that comes close to Park Island in terms of size and quality for this price.