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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!

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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Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
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Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

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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