For the next few months Cheung happily decorated the place and repainted the walls a gay light yellow color. In recent weeks, however, some of the joy has gone out of home-owning. Ruefully, she reflects, she could have used those savings to pay for the furnishings. Real estate is the closest thing that the masses of Hong Kong have to religious faith. The gospel holds that property prices always go up.
Any downward trend is a temporary glitch.
Everyone from street hawkers to tycoons watches the property market. This includes even those like Cheung who have already bought their dream home and have no immediate intentions of selling it. When things get out of sync they pressure the government to intervene. Despite its reputation for letting the market work without interference, the government usually does something. But as the Asian Crisis began to recede, it was logical to assume that property prices would begin to perk up too.