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Real estate
Why building skyscrapers on expensive land is not always wise
“Go into land, they stopped making it,” Mark Twain was said to have told a friend who had inherited some money. In San Francisco in the 1860s, there was plenty of unused land. But Twain was not asking his friend to buy just any plot. His advice was to focus on property near the city centre. The great author knew it was in the nature of humans to congregate. The more a location is popular, the more it is likely to become even more popular, and the higher its price is likely to rise.
The Cantillon effect explains property prices
Everyone knows the property market runs in cycles. Not many, however, know that it was an obscure Irishman called Richard Cantillon (1680-1734) who laid the theoretical groundwork to explain why prices of property and other assets move in cyclical patterns.
Risky high risers
This September, the Burj will be completed in the United Arab Emirates, making it the world's tallest building. Yet it seems everytime a record-breaking skyscraper goes up, the financial market in the country goes down. theasiamag.com measures the Curse of the Skyscraper Index.
What is the likelihood that Shanghai will be hit by a recession next year?
Fickle fortune: Yoshiaki Tsutsumi
Heir to a railway and property fortune, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi's rollercoaster ride has sunk to new lows lately.
