Li Hualong's prediction is very accurate, in July, the Hong Kong dollar fell against the US dollar by nearly 5%, which put many Hong Kong companies under pressure, some Hong Kong companies borrowing US dollars from banks have been under a lot of interest pressure, the vast majority of listed companies stock prices fell, and the Hang Seng Index also fell.

At the beginning of this year (1982), the Hang Seng Index was 1,150 points, and by the end of July, it had fallen to 1,150 points, a decline of 18%.

In September, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Beijing on the occasion of a resounding victory in the Falkland Islands and formally raised the issue of Hong Kong's future. Her proposal to China's leader, Deng Xiaoping, to exchange sovereignty for governing power was rejected, resulting in a historic stumble on the steps in front of the Great Hall of the People.

Subsequently, the Huaxia Government announced that it would resume the exercise of sovereignty in Hong Kong on 1 July 1997.

On September 27, Margaret Thatcher flew from Beijing to Hong Kong, and at a press conference, she claimed that the treaty signed by Britain with the Manchu government "has a legal basis" and that it is valid.

Since then, the prelude to the dispute between the Chinese and British governments over the sovereignty of Hong Kong has begun.

The situation took a turn for the worse on 1 October, and on 1 October, the RM Daily, which represented the official mouthpiece of China, solemnly pointed out that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher held that the unequal treaties signed by the Manchu government had legal effect and were absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese people.

This statement has led international political observers and even Hong Kong people to believe that Hong Kong's sovereignty will definitely be returned to the motherland on 1 July 1997.

When this series of news reached Hong Kong, the stock market and real estate, which had long been exhausted, fell in response to the news, and began a years-long low tide.

Hong Kong's real estate developers lamented that the cold winter is coming.

For Li Hualong, the cold winter is coming, it is not necessarily a bad thing, he has a large amount of firewood in reserve, he is not afraid of freezing to death, and the firewood in his hand is more valuable, and he can exchange firewood for more things with appreciation potential.

……

1982 was the bleakest year for Hong Kong's real estate industry in the past seven or eight years. Land prices, property prices, and rents have fallen sharply across the board, and investors' interest in bidding at official land auctions has generally been low, and snubbing scenes have emerged one after another.

When others are crazy. I'm scared; When others are scared, I go crazy.

This is Li Hualong's investment creed, at this time others were afraid, but Li Hualong was not crazy, and he bought cheap land without seeing it. He picked a few plots of land with development potential and bought them at a low price.

The collapse of the real estate market is naturally the brunt of land prices.

By the end of 1982, land prices in Hong Kong had generally fallen by 40 to 60 per cent compared to a year earlier, with the largest declines being for industrial and high-end residential sites.

The selling price of industrial sites in Kowloon Bay, measured by floor area, dropped by 93% from the peak of $360 psf in December 1980 to $25 psf in October 1982. A high-end residential site in the vicinity of South Bay Road, Hong Kong Island. It also fell from a peak of $1,502 psf in September 1980 to $540 psf in May 1982, a drop of 60%.

Li Hualong is not interested in industrial land at all, and if his company does not need to buy land to build factories, he does not pay attention to the price of industrial land at all, and he has not invested in the development of industrial buildings for a long time.

Li Hualong is still very interested in investing in high-end residences, and he has long planned to take advantage of this wave of real estate downturn to buy a large number of high-end residential land.

Li Hualong knows that from the perspective of the general trend. After this slump, Hong Kong's housing prices will continue to rise until 1997, even if there is a stock market crash caused by the US stock market crash in 1987 and a political-political-incident incident in 1979. As a result, Hong Kong's housing prices fell, but they quickly recovered.

……

One evening in early December, Li Hualong chatted with his father after dinner.

After chatting for more than half an hour, when Li Hualong was about to leave, he received a call from Li Huawen.

"Big brother. You rarely call me at night. Li Hualong said with a smile.

"I'm looking for you." Li Huawen smiled.

"What's the urgency you're calling me?" Li Hualong asked curiously.

"It's not my business, it's Hang Lung's business." Li Huawen smiled, "Guess what it is." ”

"Is it that this company is short of money, and some projects can't be developed?" Li Hualong asked with a smile.

Li Hualong knows that last year, three consortiums led by Hang Lung won the development rights of the properties above nine subway stations along the Hong Kong Island MTR.

"As you guessed, there is a problem with Hang Lung's capital chain. I have heard that a Japanese bank that had previously signed up to lend a maximum credit of HK$1.5 billion to Hang Lung has temporarily withdrawn its commitment. In recent months, land prices in Hong Kong have plummeted, and Hang Lung Company did not want to pay the full amount of the land premium for Admiralty Phase 2 that had been negotiated before, so it proposed to the Hong Kong government to reduce the land premium......"

"Big brother, just say something you want, go straight to the point, I'm a little sleepy today and want to go to bed early." Li Hualong interrupted.

"It's only a few o'clock." Li Huawen smiled, "You went to bed too early." ”

"Go to bed early and wake up early, and you're in good health."

"Okay, okay, then I'll stop talking nonsense. Hang Lung won the right to develop the second phase of Admiralty, and the land price was 1.82 billion Hong Kong dollars, and I remember that auction, you also participated in that auction. ”

"Yes. What does Hang Lung mean? ”

"Chen Zengxi, the boss of Hang Lung, wants to give up the second phase of the Admiralty project and admits to paying HK$200 million."

"Pledge 200 million?" Li Hualong smiled faintly, "How much does Hang Lung pay the government now?" ”

"Six hundred million." Li Huawen smiled, "The real estate developer who won this project, how to pay, you should know." ”

"I remember all these unimportant things, and I'm afraid my brain will be too burdened." Li Hualong smiled and said, "I remember right, this project covers an area of nearly 70,000 square feet, and can build a building of more than 100 square feet, right?" ”

"That's right, 6.9 square feet, with a buildable floor area of 1.043 million square feet."

Li Hualong pondered for a moment and said lightly: "Hang Lung is willing to admit 400 million Hong Kong dollars, and I will take over this project." ”

"You spent 1.42 billion Hong Kong dollars to win this project, will it be too dark?" Li Huawen quipped.

"It's not a question of whether it's black or not, and now that the future of Hong Kong is uncertain, I take over the development of this project, and I don't know when I will be able to make a profit." Li Hualong smiled, "I estimate that if Hang Lung refuses to let go of this project, it is very likely that it will go bankrupt because of the high debt." By admitting 400 million, Hang Lung can reduce its loss by 200 million. ”

"Let Hang Lung admit HK$400 million, it's not negotiable, right?"

"Yes. Big brother, you're not going to increase the price to win this project, are you? ”

"I don't have much interest in this project. You go to sleep, I'll call Chen Zengxi back, whether he accepts it or not, tomorrow morning, I'll call you again. ”

"Don't be too early, call around eight o'clock."

"You go to bed now, you get up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, you're too sleepy, aren't you?" Li Huawen teased.

"Don't talk nonsense with you, bye-bye!" Li Hualong hung up the phone with a smile.

After hanging up the phone, Li Hualong sighed: "Time flies so fast. ”

Li Hualong remembered that more than ten years ago, he bought the Navy Dock plot from the Hong Kong government, and the development of this land, and now the Admiralty 2nd section of the plot belongs to the Navy Dock plot, and he cooperated with other real estate developers to develop it.

Affected by the June Seventh Riots, Hong Kong's land prices plummeted, and some real estate developers who cooperated with Li Hualong suffered a setback in their businesses, and could not afford to continue to invest funds to develop the project of the seagoing shipyard plot, Li Hualong bought shares in several cooperative projects from his partners and reorganized to create the Gemdale Group.

Later, with the rebound of the Hong Kong stock market, Gemdale Group rode a bull to go public, and today, Gemdale Group is the most valuable real estate company in Hong Kong, about 50% higher than the market value of the old real estate developer Hong Kong Land.

A few years ago, the Hong Kong MTR Corporation was preparing to build a subway station in Admiralty, and in order to make profits, with the consent of the Hong Kong government, the MTR company bought two office buildings from Gemdale Group at market prices, and at the same time, the Hong Kong government deliberately sold two plots of land in Mong Kok to Gemdale Group at a lower price, which was regarded as making up for the loss of Gemdale Group.

The Hong Kong MTR Corporation planned to demolish two old buildings in Admiralty, replan them, and put them up for public auction, and the Hong Kong government approved a free increase in the plot ratio, including the land named Admiralty Section 2 that was bought by Hang Lung. At the beginning of the auction of this land, Li Hualong also participated in the auction, but he couldn't help but not pay too high a price, he felt that there were many ways to make money, knowing that the property market was going to go down, he felt that there was no need to buy land at a high price at this time.

Li Hualong knows that in the next ten years, Hong Kong's economic development momentum is very good, and there is a lot of room for property price growth, and now Hang Lung is willing to give up the Admiralty Section 2 land at a discount, he feels that it is a good opportunity, if Hang Lung Company admits 400 million Hong Kong dollars, it will be a benefit to Li Hualong. (To be continued.) )