Living on Park island (Ma Wan)

[cookie09]

Kryzlowski is right. Take a look at the attached graph which shows how prices are steadily moving up, and really starting to go up more in the last few months especially. I am about to buy (even though I will need to end my current lease early).

where you get this chart from?

[BenderBends]

so you think the prices will continue to rise forever? thats certainly one way to plan your investments, ignoring the fact that eventually the bubble will burst and prices will come crashing down.

good luck.

[randy1]

where you get this chart from?

I got it from one of the HK property websites. A number of the websites allow you to search price trends on particular regions or developments of HK property.

[randy1]

so you think the prices will continue to rise forever? thats certainly one way to plan your investments, ignoring the fact that eventually the bubble will burst and prices will come crashing down.

good luck.

Thanks.

Do I think prices will rise forever? Well, historically, if you look at HK over the last say, 100 years, yes property has ALWAYS continuously risen over time. Of course there are ups and downs along the way. Whilst its no certainty, I think is very likely that HK property will, over time keep rising. Whatever the price now, and whatever rises or falls over the next ten years, I think its very likely prices will be way higher in 10 years time rather than lower.

Think of all the growth in Asia. China 1 billion+ people. Same with India. Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. Massive economic growth = strong demand for property. Now whether HK, as opposed to other countries can attract the investment remains to be seen, but my feeling is HK and Singapore will both continue booming due to the low taxes, and ability to attract high net worth individuals to be based in these countries (bankers, regional company execs, hedge fund managers, etc).

Do I think "the bubble will burst"? Well, I don't think HK property is anywhere near a bubble, as for the time being it is much cheaper to own than to rent.

But yes bubbles of course must burst over time. 1997 was a bubble. In 1997 it cost approx 4 times more to own a property (in interest payments vs rentals) so that's clearly a sign of a bubble.

Currently, it costs much more to be a renter then to own, so that shows we are far from a bubble and in fact property in HK is still undervalued.

With regard specifically to PI, my friends wife who can read chinese says that on the Chinese PI forum, its ablaze with people interested in buying (mainlanders etc taking interest, which I admit may, or may not be such a good thing overall for them to all come over.)

Of course no one can predict the future, and its always scary making a big purchase, but I feel now is still the right time. If I can remember, I will come back and post on here in 2 years time or so after I purchased and see if I was right And if I was wrong, I will still try to remember to come back anyhow as an update.

I have put some offers in this weekend, but am currently getting the run around from the sellers "my wife needs time to think about it, blah blah" (translation = I am trying to find another buyer at a higher price so am trying to stall for time...)

[Mat]

so you think the prices will continue to rise forever? thats certainly one way to plan your investments, ignoring the fact that eventually the bubble will burst and prices will come crashing down.

good luck.

I thought I was reading TheBrit....

[randy1]

Ha ha - well, I reckon the Brit secretly wishes he had already bought .....

[Fay Cain]

Gosh, what a fight~
PI is all right if you just work in central, no extra traveling involved.
The Park n Shop doesn't have much to offer after 6PM, but you could always drop by City Super or Taste depending on the way you commute, or you could just do 30% off sushi.
You do have more pets beauty salon or pets day care place than restaurants for humans, but well, guess it might be the paradise for animal lovers, or at least it's not too bad considering most of the dogs here are quite well behaved.
Facilities here are remarkable. Boy I love the jacuzzi and sauna room after swimming and it's only 12HKD!!!
So to conclude, PI is up there if you value a sort of healthy life style, but if you are a social animal or shopping maniac, then don't come.

[randy1]

Ok - in case anyone is interested I finally bought an apartment on Park Island. I got approx 1500 square foot (actually two 750 square foot apartments joined together with an open plan living room) for $8.8m.

It took around 10 days to finally get it. To cut a long story short, the place I wanted was on the market for 9.5m, I offered 8.3 (knowing I would need to get higher). They came back with 9.25m, I went to 8.5m. They finally offered "no lower than 9m". I offered 8.6, and they went for a "last offer of 8.88m (for good luck, lucky number etc). I used that to offer 8.8 (which pretty much saved me the agents 1% fee). Bank val was 8.6, so I need to come up with a little extra which is fine.

Looking fwd to moving in now. I feel I made a good buy, and plan to be here for at least the next 5 years.

[Fay Cain]

WOW. Nice job. Congrats, Randy~