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A look into a property agent window yesterday almost gave me indigestion. Most standard 700 sqft flats advertised for rent in the 5 digits, even one of the very least popular 1/F flats at $11,500 which are usually far cheaper than G/F or the most coveted and rare rooftop flats?
We used to live in one of those 1/F places - very nice, almost new, great landlady - in the same village for less than half this rent....

Have the rents really doubled in YSW in the last 1-2 years? We've been looking at a great rooftop flat with 360-degree unobstructed views recently, including sea views, in Pak Village recently at $6,000/month, less than half of what it would go for in YSW.

Our 2-year contract is running out middle of this year and our off-island landlord wants to increase the rent by 50%. But as we're such "good tenants" - meaning we pay on time, no pets, no children, quiet - he'll accept a "reasonable" increase of ONLY 30% from us, which means we have no choice but to move again.

With this kind of rent increases, is it time to look at old 350 sqft 1/F places far from the ferry pier, or move to Pak Kok? Or can we tenants hope that this insane property bubble will burst soon?

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My Mrs moved to Lamma in October and I moved at the end of November. We managed to find a reasonably priced ground floor flat in Ko Long village. However, if we were being quoted $10,000+ I really don't think we would have moved here.

Lamma is a fantastic place to live but there are some obvious sacrifices by living here (lack of transport on the island, transport off the island good (but not great) during the day and not running through the night) and you would think landlords would factor this into their valuations. Instead they are offering flats at the same rent as those on HK island. We took a one year lease on here and if our rent more than doubles at the end of 2011 (and everywhere else is the same), we would have to consider moving which would be a terrible shame because we have taken to this island so quickly!

Hopefully landlords and estate agents may use this forum as a barometer for how much they can shaft us and realise that they're asking for simply too much!

Do you seriously in your wildest dreams think:

1) That landlords and estate agents actually read these forums?

2) That they give a toss?

1) yes

2) debateable

1) Occasionally, some landlords and property agents read these forums, but only when trying to find tenants for their overpriced flats amongst the new arrivals looking for a flat in this forum, sending them Private Messages advertising their flats.

2) Yes, they give a toss, while they're having a good laugh and chuckle about our naivety and then raise their asked-for rents to even more stratospheric levels while trawling the rental market for new arrivals to our fair isle who don't know the market rates yet, usually relying on walk-ins on Main Street, never feeling a need to advertise any property on the Internet ever. Business is so great for them right now, bragging to me about selling flats at hugely increased prices within hours of putting a little text-only card into their shop windows.

The tenants highly preferred by property agents are off-islanders, gainfully employed in town or, ideally and highly sought-after, their employer pays the rent. Some agents specialise in these easy and highly profitable targets, probably called "suckers" in property agent lingo.

P.S. Thanks to Dory for another fun title for a Lamma-zine property story to be published today, quoting your post subject title above:
"Cloud cuckoo land, pal!"

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Unbelievable prices. Lamma is very popular now and the few landlords are making a mint off it. Cannot complain if the ones seeking flats are willing to pay those rents. Tenants move out, and prices move up 50%. Normal for HK.
What is not improving is the island itself and public services – but that is a general symptom of Hong Kong. That ridiculous clock (tourist attraction nevertheless!), concrete bicycle parking area still on the agenda instead of innovative solutions...cold grey democracy wall and so on.

Yung Shue Long Valley is next with the old man probably soon dying (as happened to the old man of the vegetable sellers), and leaving his patch of land to squabble over.

There should have long been an initiative such as a shop owner's guild or something to decide together what mix of shops is good for tourism etc and make this place worth living. Now even the Kepab place is running the 7th?8th? 9th? convenience store, and everyone is BBQing chicken legs. We might not have any 7-11 but still the highest density of convenience stores in HK.

We have made decision to move – heavy heartedly, but necessary.
Simply because for the same price elsewhere I can have a garden, shop in a proper supermarket (home delivery!), enjoy a wetmarket and other stuff. The advantage to live here with a nice community and enjoy the surroundings is outweighed by a ridiculous living cost compared to the New Territories among other things. Might sound pathetic to opt out instead of fighting, but in the end as long as negative interest rates are to stay this is the way property is going and with it all green spots left in Hong Kong.

In your article you mentioned a 3 bed flat in Pak Kok, are you serious?! Do you know if it's still available?

I have been looking at flats on Lamma as we intend to move there (family of 4) but are flummoxed by the prices, I lived in Pak Kok 10 years ago and paid $4,500 for a ground floor 750 sq ft! Still we're in London at the mo, so paying extraordinary prices for somewhere to rest ones head is normal.

Rent on the mainland seems reasonable compared to Lamma.

Seriously if you know any contact details of that flat in Pak Kok I would be your lifelong friend.

Wow, I could always use another "lifelong friend"!

I've PMed you a photo of the for-rent sign outside the building in Pak Kok.
The landlord is the powerful #2 of the YSW Rural Committee who walked us all the way from our "City Hall" (YSW Rural Committee Bldg) via Tai Peng and Heart Attack Hill to his rooftop flat, one of numerous places he owns in the area and in Tai Peng.
He even reserved the flat for us for 2 weeks till we made up our mind as he was pretty eager to get us in there, after personal references for us from his buddies.

We seriously considered it - $6,000 was about half the average current rent in YSW for a place like this - but the sheer inconvenience of Pak Kok kept us away in the end; my life, work, friends and clients are really mostly around YSW.
We'll meet him again tonight at a Chinese New Year annual company dinner, asking him about the flat and any others he might have available for rent.

As I understand it, there are quite a few places available in Pak Kok these days; the population has shrunk quite drastically, according to the Pak Kok ferry co. The (hopefully) future Resident Village Rep of Pak Kok Old Village (elections this Sunday) has offered to help the locals to find tenants. She has contacts for available Pak Kok flats. See Lamma-zine story, Jan 11, for her contact.

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Yeah, well, sorry to be a bit off-track on the theme of this particular subject, but if the ferry service was a bit better then people would not be forced to move! I used to use the Pak Kok ferry regularly but now its much of a muchness to go to Central and take the bus to go to Aberdeen. At least that is comfortable and does not take appreciably longer particularly when you consider the gaps between PK/Ab ferries.

Sorry to go off on a tangent. If they improve the ferry service people will be more inclined to use it.

The guys on board are quite pleasant though...

The ferry men are wonderful, getting on and off with small children, pushchair (made by the makers of the Sherman tank) and shopping bags is a pretty scary affair but they are always so helpful and cheerful - a far cry from the workers on public transport in London!

Thank you very much for the info on property in Pak Kok, we're also interested in Tai Ping so thank you again. I shall ask a friend of mine make contact. This is a very useful forum for landlords and I am surprised more don't use it.

I wouldn't want to pay 5 figures a month to live in Lamma. Mui Wo, Chung Chau or even at a push Peng Chau would be my destination if I were staying in Hong Kong. Compared to CC where the prices are the same as they were here 2 yrs ago, Lamma is really in the shade a little in term of transport and facilities. They do lack the hills and the woodland walks though.

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