Financial crunch for Hongkong construction?
Authors
Citation
Asian Architect & Contractor, v.21, no.2, 1991, pp. 17-19
Abstract
Feature writer Tad Stoner consults financial experts in the US, Hongkong and Japan to assess the impact of the global economic downturn upon the construction industry. He considers the possible implications for Hongkong of the recent cut in the US prime interest rate and the tightening of Japanese captial.
(1) A world awash in petrodollars in the 70's, money that was recycled into now-bankrupt national economies, has become a world awash in high-rolling real estate in the 90s.
(2) Bankers have lost faith in the real-estate market, as well as in the ability of international development tycoons both to create and sustain its growth.
(3) As a crippling Western recession bites Asia's export-oriented economies, the tightening of long-term credit will inevitably generate a tightening of short-term credit, and the building industry is set to feel the pinch.
(4) "Construction is an important avenue for recovery from recessions, and a shut off of real-estate lending would likely inhibit the vigour of the recovery," David Hensley.
(5) "Short-term rates are affected by the interest rates the lender will charge, and the ability of the developer to absorb them," a local analyst said.
(6) "In Hongkong, people like Li Kashing, Hopewell Holdings, Sun Hung Kai and Stanley Ho are not hurt much, but the smaller ones are hurt badly. They just won't start work.
Description
Type
Article
Format
Date
1991
Language
en