Garden Town
With its sparse population and picturesque scenery, Sai Kung rises as a coveted area for new homebuyers
| Text : Jennifer Lo | Photo : www.thinkstockphotos.com |
Dubbed the “backyard of Hong Kong,” Sai Kung is where city dwellers love to head to get away from hectic city life over weekends for a lovely hike in the bushy, green country park, a relaxing swim in the clear blue waters or perhaps a delicious seafood feast along the harbour. Once a small fishing village and home to ship breaking and repair industries in the 1950s and ’60s, the quiet town, thanks to its unique geographical location, was immune to overt expansion but still suburbanised with lowdensity residential
development
. Since the 1970s, government zoning policy to restrict extensive development aiming to preserve indigenous tradition and local scenery has kept Sai Kung’s beautiful natural landscape almost unspoilt, and the town isolated from its rapidly developing neighbours like Ma On Shan and Tseung Kwan O. For those nostalgic for space, countryside and clean air, Sai Kung seems the only part of the concrete jungle that makes sense to call home.
One big charm of the area is that Sai Kung is almost free of the high-rises found in most parts of the city — with the exception of a few 5- to12-storey residential buildings in Sai Kung Town. Properties in the semi-rural hinterland such as Tseng Lan Shue, Silverstand, Ho Chung, Tai Po Tsai and Tai Mong Tsai mainly consist of villa complexes and village houses. The villas, which come in different sizes and shapes, are well managed with plenty of facilities like swimming pools, clubhouses and car parks. For more high-end villas such as Marina Cove, there is even a serene haven for residents to park their yachts and boats in. Village houses, better known as detached houses, are usually restricted to a typical 3-storey Spanish design, with a maximum of 700 square feet per floor. But some village houses do come with a thousand square foot private yard and lock-up garages.
Village houses are tempting for those who dream of a quiet and spacious home with a private yard in Hong Kong, where even a tiny flat is worth several million dollars. Englishman Roy Stitt, 45, is one of them. Almost ten years ago, he made a decision: move from his apartment in South Horizons in southern Hong Kong all the way to the rural countryside. “My old home was far too crowded, noisy and polluted,” he says. Stitt now lives with his wife and two children in a 3-storey 1,650 square foot village house in O Tau Village, a more remote village tucked away near the country parks on Sai Sha Road. With only a few minutes drive from the beaches and walking distance from Sai Kung West Country Park, the family enjoys outdoor activities on weekends, especially summertime water sports.
According property agencies in the district, village houses are the most popular dwellings, particularly among expatriates, who account for about 40 percent of buyers in the district. In the luxury housing market, a standard 2,100 square foot village house in Sai Kung fetched HK$15.7 million, or HK$7,500 per square foot on average in December, according to Frankie Liu Chun-hung, sales director at Century 21 in the district. Its efficiency rate — the percentage of the usable gross floor area — is as high as 90 percent.
“The higher efficiency rate is especially attractive for buyers from downtown. A 700 square foot house in Sai Kung is comparable to a 900 square foot flat in the urban district”, explains Matthew Chung, sales manager of Sunshine Property Consultant. Comparatively, a 2,188 square foot flat at The Arch, a luxury housing estate above Kowloon MTR Station, is demanding prices hovering around HK$85 million or HK$38,848 per square foot, with an efficiency rate of only 70 to 80 percent. A flat of similar size at Residence Bel-Air has a price tag of HK$36 million.
Sai Kung, being a buyers’ district in which over 80 percent are end users, is one of a few exceptions to be less affected by the government’s latest cooling policy to curb property speculation. “The property market in Sai Kung is usually less affected by speculation, as most buyers are seeking homes for self-consumption and more interested in long-term investment,” Liu states. Despite a relatively stable property market in the district, Liu, however, expects a more active rental market in Sai Kung in the coming year. “A cap on mortgage loans is going to turn potential buyers to the rental market for the time being.”
Living away from the pollution with exclusive scenery in a densely populated city like Hong Kong does come with a price. Transportation is no doubt a concern for some commuters. Stitt, who worked in Wanchai, takes a 45-minute motorbike drive every morning. “Commuting can be tedious without a private car,” he admits. Sai Kung is about a half hour drive from Kowloon via Clearwater Bay Road and Hiram’s Highway. However, despite being a relatively secluded area, many parts of Sai Kung (including O Tau, Ho Chung, Tai Po Tsai and Tai Mong Tsai) are served by frequent public transport in the form of buses and minibuses. But for most nature lovers like Stitt, their quest for a peaceful living environment definitely outweighs other concerns, as he sums up so succinctly of the town’s appeal. “Sai Kung’s very rural and quiet. The air is cleaner. I’d like my kids to grow up in this environment rather than the urban.”
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