The Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Michael Suen, and the overjoyed Heung Yee Kuk have just announced that the approval process for new Village Houses will be reduced from 15 years to 1 year.
This is expected to result in an approximate doubling of building permits to male indigenous village residents to an estimated 2,300/year!

Should we expect a building boom in the New Territories, the Outlying Islands and on Lamma Island? Quite a number of new Village Houses have just been finished or are currently under construction in and around Yung Shue Wan.

As most of us live in Village Houses, how will this affect our rents that have been shrinking for years, till last year when they stabilised?

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It depends a lot on whether they maintain their shoddy build finish and keep building cloned rabbit warrens or actually try and build a decent flat which reflects the changing needs of residents.
There is a real shortage of decent places on the island- we looked recently and found nothing.

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I like my neighbour's house- it's right up my street.

Well, you won't need to wait much longer. Lammarina ("Lamma 1" as the developer calls it) will be opening around end of the year. These houses should be reasonably "decent" enough, I've heard, and you can park your own yacht.

And there are "6-star holiday resorts" planned for the Sok Kwu Wan area, even more "decent"...

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I think I'll have to save a bit more money to be able to but one of the marina houses!
I'd just be happy with a well thought out village house thanks.

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I like my neighbour's house- it's right up my street.

theres appears to be a big shortage of decent sites in lower lamma, hence the last spate of building was in tai peng,which tends to be a loss making venture as the rents are very low up here. Most people don't like to sweat so much.

As for the marina, ever heard of sea ranch on Lantau, you can get a place there for less than Lamma. Personally I think the marina will be a flop, no where to park the Bimmer.