Word: kong
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Palin, Sarah • cell phone footage of Hong Kong speech by, which was closed to the press but here, for masochists, are some excerpts...
...interest loans because of the government's loose monetary and fiscal policies, which were implemented last year to fight the recession. Buyers are looking to invest close to home, and despite China's restrictions on moving capital beyond its borders, that often means acquiring assets in Hong Kong. (The former British colony belongs to China but has a separate system of government and a more open economy.) About half of the buyers for luxury apartments in Hong Kong in recent weeks came from the mainland, according to reports. (Read "Asia's Easy Money: Fueling New Bubbles...
...Soaring prices for posh abodes does not mean Hong Kong's economy has escaped the recession. The unemployment rate remains high - for Hong Kong at least - at 5.4%; retail sales dropped 5.5% year-on-year in July, the most recent data available. Though average prices for non-luxury housing has rebounded 25% this year, they are still a third lower than the market's all-time high, in 1997. (See pictures of Hong Kong...
...large number of Chinese buyers means growth in Hong Kong's luxury-property market could suddenly cool if Beijing decides to tighten credit. Su Ning, vice governor of the mainland's central bank, said last week that China would continue its "appropriately loose" monetary policy at least into next year, but regulators have already started to clamp down somewhat. In August, total lending by Chinese banks dropped to a third of June's levels...
...Peter Churchouse, a director at a Hong Kong investment research and advisory firm, says he doesn't think Hong Kong's housing market is a bubble. But some analysts worry that low interest rates, high liquidity and a tight supply of new apartments could fuel irrational exuberance. Churchouse says: "I could easily see this market developing into a bubble, but it's not a bubble yet." That should be of some comfort for the buyer who just paid $3.16 million for a 590 sq. ft. apartment...