ABSTRACT
From the mid-1980s, property prices in major East Asian cities started to appreciate rapidly. Within a short period of time they have skyrocketed. The magnitude of the increase in real estate prices in these cities is phenomenal. In the case of Taipei, both office and residential prices have soared 350 per cent in the two years 1988-9 (Wieman 1990, 11), and real-estate prices are catching up with the highest in the world. Hong Kong has also experienced rapid increases in property prices since 1984. In 1991 residential property prices rose by 52 per cent (Hong Kong Bank 1992, 1). The condition of Hong Kong’s property market has become alarming and the colonial government, which is renowned for its image of being noninterventionist in economic affairs, has recently introduced measures to control real-estate speculations. In short, the performance of the property markets in the East Asian cities has been spectacular and such escalations of real-estate prices have significant implications for the structuring of housing inequalities in the region.
