Chapter 451 [Current situation of real estate and banks]
In August, the Hong Kong government promulgated seven measures to combat property speculation, including stipulating that the temporary deposit be 5% of the property price, each person can only register once to purchase one unit during real estate registration, prohibiting the use of power of attorney to register, and establishing lottery selection.
Floor procedures, etc.
After the promulgation of the measures, although the property sales process has improved, the speculation has not been significantly suppressed, and property prices continue to rise sharply.
In Lin Zuhui's view, the Hong Kong government is responsible for 30% of the Hong Kong government's contribution to the soaring property prices in Hong Kong. Every time, the Hong Kong government puts Crown land for auction during the peak period of real estate, which attracts real estate developers to compete for bids, and eventually the price is as high as a sky-high price, thus driving the entire
The market is rising.
Another 40% of the credit is due to the "speculation trend" in Xiangjiang. Everyone comes to speculate in real estate, which naturally makes real estate developers happy. It is strange that housing prices do not rise.
The remaining three successes are real estate developers. As a real estate developer, Lin Zuhui is well aware of the "cunning" of real estate developers. There is a shortage of hundreds of thousands of housing units in Hong Kong, but real estate developers will not increase their supply.
For example, New Era Group has a large land bank, but its supply of residential space this year is less than before, with only about 2.6 million square feet (about 4,000 residential units).
This is called having land but not building, and having buildings not selling!
After all, the average housing price is above HK$2,500, so supplying 2.6 million square feet is equivalent to sales of more than 6.5 billion, and the net profit from real estate development alone is more than 3.5 billion (the profit is high because the land price is cheap).
Therefore, real estate developers will not increase supply too much, not because they don’t want to make more money, but because they are planning for the long term!
Friday, August 9th.
In Lin Zuhui's office, three real estate executives, Chen Bin, Liang Zhenxun, and Chen Xiaofen, were having a small meeting with their boss on the sofa.
"When will the term of the Financial Secretary expire?" Lin Zuhui suddenly asked a 'digression'.
The three of them looked at each other, seemingly not paying attention to this issue. Liang Zhenxun said uncertainly: "It seems to be November!"
Lin Zuhui did not blame the three people, but said: "Remember to ask around, I seem to remember it is November! As the saying goes, the first thing a new official takes office is to crack down on property speculation! It's not necessary.
The property market will fall, just be careful."
The three of them nodded. This makes perfect sense. The crackdown was already launched in August, but it was obviously not strong enough! Regarding the current housing prices, there are a lot of criticisms in Xiangjiang.
Of course, most people in Xiangjiang still hope that the price of houses will increase, and Lin Zuhui knows this!
Chen Bin said tentatively: "What the boss means is that some units in Huijing Garden will be sold before the new Financial Secretary is appointed?"
Lin Zuhui nodded and said: "Yes, but it's best not to go too far in advance. It's almost a week in advance! In October, 3,200 yuan per square foot should be no problem. You should calculate the time carefully and don't hit the gun of the Financial Secretary.
, although we are not afraid of him!"
Huijing Garden plans to release more than 900 residential units this year, which is considered a huge goal, so Lin Zuhui pays special attention to it. As for the sales of those two to three hundred residential units, it will not attract too much attention.
The reason for this is because a large portion of real estate sales are purchased by real estate speculators!
"Okay, we must calculate the time!"
More than 900 residential units, equivalent to more than 20% of this year's supply chain, require careful planning. It is impossible to decide to sell immediately and organize the sale. Therefore, it is necessary to plan in advance.
At present, New Era Group also has many large-scale housing projects in its hands, such as Hui Jing Garden (4,100 residential units) and Harbor Plaza (4,750 residential units. The Hok Yuen Power Plant was all vacated in 1992 and completed before 1998). , Another One-Bedroom (1,900 low-rise high-end residences, launched in batches in 1992 and completed in 1995), two large housing estates in Tsuen Wan with more than 6,000 residential units (all completed before 1998)
Huijing Garden is the first to go on sale. Even so, it is expected to earn nearly 10 billion, not to mention subsequent projects!
Damn real estate developer!
Then, Lin Zuhui thought about the problem, and the three of them did not dare to disturb the boss.
They know that the boss is the commander of New Era Group, and every decision he makes is the fundamental driving force for the growth of the group. The reason why New Era Group develops so fast is because the boss’s decisions are very precise. The supply volume every year, When to slow down the number of real estate construction starts, when to increase sales, etc., these are the details of New Era Group's victory.
In fact, Lin Zuhui is considering: Let New Era Group invest in foreign exchange, or let New Era Group invest in Citibank's stocks (purchase in the secondary market)?
Currently, USD/JPY has fallen to 136.5 points after reaching 142 points in mid-June. It is still too late to sell short now!
As for the USD/JPY short selling by Hengjin Investment, the average short selling point is already at 139.3 points, with a total investment of 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars and 20 times leverage, which has already generated profits.
Citibank's stock is currently a little over 9 US dollars, and it looks like it may fall below 9 US dollars per share. If New Era Group invests 100 million US dollars, the annual income will definitely be very high, possibly reaching more than 40%. It seems that, in Before the bubble crisis, Citibank's return rate reached more than 30 times, exceeding Wells Fargo's return rate of more than ten times.
If it weren't for Lin Zuhui's financial difficulties, New Era Group wouldn't be able to do so. In addition, he already holds a large number of Citibank shares.
"Director Liang, please make arrangements to spend $100 million to invest in securities in the United States! Let me know when you are ready!"
"Okay, boss!"
Everyone has become accustomed to the boss's style. New Era Group has been investing in financial products. As for the investment of only 800 million Hong Kong dollars, it is no longer a big investment.
Lin Zuhui's idea is very simple. Next year, he plans to spend 1 billion Hong Kong dollars to buy office buildings in the United States. He will pay 20% of the down payment to buy an office building worth 5 billion, which is roughly equivalent to five buildings with more than 300,000 square feet in Manhattan, New York.
This price is only half of the price in Central, because office buildings in the United States have fallen to a low point in the past two years.
After two months of steady operation, Lin Zuhui was pleasantly surprised to find that China Commercial Bank (Hong Kong) had attracted more than 1 billion Hong Kong dollars in deposits. Although more than 200 million of them were supported by friends and partners, it was enough to shock the entire industry.
.
The reason is simple. The credibility of China Commercial Bank (Hong Kong) was damaged more than two months ago, and its monthly deposits of nearly 400 million are almost at the level of Bank of East Asia.
After careful analysis, there are three reasons for such success:
First, there is the celebrity effect of Lam Cho-fai himself. He is the richest Chinese in the world. In the eyes of Hong Kong people, he is the leader of a large consortium with strong financial strength and a very good reputation.
Second, Lin Zuhui's performance in the "State Business Incident" impressed the public and made them feel that his credibility was guaranteed.
Third, the savings plan of "deposit money and get cooking oil" is very successful. If you deposit 20,000 Hong Kong dollars, you can get a barrel of cooking oil regularly every year, which increases the interest in disguised form. In this way, you can get a barrel of cooking oil regularly.
If you offend your peers, you can get deposits.
Lin Zuhui did not intend for China Commercial Bank (Hong Kong) to develop too fast, but he demanded the word "stability". Only when it was stable, he would 100% purchase the "Overseas Trust Bank" from the Hong Kong government.
Before selling the Overseas Trust Bank, the Hong Kong government will send commissioners from the Banking Regulatory Office and HSBC Bank (quasi-central bank) to conduct an audit. Only if it performs "stable and sound" can the Hong Kong government feel confident in handing over the "Overseas Trust Bank" to Lin Zuhui.
The reason is actually very simple. The Hong Kong government is also worried that it is entrusted to an untrustworthy person and another run will occur. A bank run is not scary, but it is afraid of a 'Dombone effect', which may even threaten the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate (although it is a fixed peg, it may still cause the Hong Kong dollar's
It is worthless').
In the conference room.
Lin Zuhui continued to emphasize: "We are still focusing on stability above all else, maintaining sufficient cash flow to cope with possible emergencies! Personally, I can still provide 2 billion Hong Kong dollars in cash as backing at any time."
The senior executives were really surprised how much cash this boss had! Everyone in Hong Kong knows that in addition to holding shares in several listed companies, Mr. Lin Zuhui also owns a private investment company. Some people estimate that the private investment assets of this company are hundreds of millions.
billion Hong Kong dollars.
Of course, this is nothing, after all, Li Chaoren's private investment also has tens of billions; however, Li Chaoren's private investment has liabilities, while Lin Zuhui's private investment company has only 1.6 billion Hong Kong dollars in debt (invested in Citibank).
What really shocked the people of Hong Kong was that Lin Zuhui took out 5 billion Hong Kong dollars in cash, which is even more powerful! After all, the personal investments of people like Li Chaoru, Li Shauji, and Zheng Yutong were almost all completed with large amounts of loans.
Ho Changhong said seriously: "The original more than 5,000 depositors have very strong confidence in us. Some people took the initiative to re-deposit in our bank after their deposits expired, and we also publicized it through the media."
Lin Zuhui nodded with satisfaction, this move is indeed good!
"How is the recovery of bad debts?" Lin Zuhui asked.
MD, it makes me angry when I think about this. Some overseas loans were recovered and I encountered many old dealers. This made Lin Zuhui angry. He reached a friendly agreement with the creditors and paid the creditors' debts in batches, which was quite refreshing.
On the contrary, borrowers who owe money to China Commercial Bank always encounter bad guys.
"There were a few bad debts, and the borrowers saw that we were preparing to file a lawsuit and offered to repay them in batches, but asked for interest exemptions!" He Changhong said.
"Promise them, but you have to make them sign a formal repayment agreement!"
It’s not a big deal. Litigation with those overseas borrowers is time-consuming and labor-intensive, so it’s better not to do it unless it’s a last resort! At that time, Lin Zuhui himself also asked four banks in Macau to directly cut off 90% of the principal, but that
This is the reason why the company is on the verge of bankruptcy and cannot repay.
Through discussions with senior management, Lin Zuhui felt that everything at China Commercial Bank (Hong Kong) was on the right track: deposits were stable and continued to increase, original depositors chose to trust, bad debt recovery was optimistic, and bondholders were not making trouble.
In addition, loan disbursements have also begun to proceed in an orderly manner. Due to Lin Zuhui's financial guarantee, China Commercial Bank can make "extraordinary loan disbursements" according to the guaranteed amount, thereby making profits.
At this meeting, Lin Zuhui did not talk much about development. He talked most about stability. Even if Overseas Trust is acquired and integrated in the future, he will not let the bank develop by leaps and bounds.
His fundamental purpose of starting a bank is to facilitate his development of an "investment bank" so that in the future, he will have more sensitive information and more transaction channels in international financial products.