Page 15 - Sphere No.5 (Feb 2002)

I t’s not only about location, location, location. The property market,
as history keeps reminding us, can be a fickle game. Fluctuating
economies, land prices and interest rates mean the financial
landscape is perpetually changing as the laws of supply and
demand adjust. Yes, location helps. But in such a complex,
unpredictable game, timing is just as critical.
Take Le Parc, in the Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, for exam-
ple. When the first phase of this 26-tower residential development came
to market in mid-2000, prospective buyers queued outside the sales
office for an entire week—day and night—hoping to secure a unit. By
the time the sales office opened on July 1, the queue had swelled to over
1,000, and the 800 units on offer were snapped up almost immediately.
Yet not everyone had foreseen how successful the project would be. In
fact, when Hutchison Whampoa Property (HWP) bought the 1.68
million-sq.-ft. site from the local authorities in the wake of the 1997
economic crisis, rival developers, uncertain of the economic future, had
all dropped out.
Hutchison Whampoa Property Group has helped shape
the Hong Kong skyline. Now it’s applying its hard-won
expertise further afield.
By Tim Metcalfe
BUILDING
REPUTATION
A
Westgate Mall, a commercial development in Shanghai that
has proved to be a hit with both tenants and the public.