Hong Kong property sector could face challenges but ‘risks are manageable’: FSDC chair



Hong Kong’s property sector could face some “short-term challenges” but “the risks are manageable” because the city’s economy was diversified and sat on a solid foundation, the chairman of the Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) said on Wednesday.

“As an international financial centre, the global uncertainties would mean some Hong Kong industries would face certain short-term challenges, including the property sector,” said Benjamin Hung Pi-cheng at a press conference after the council released its annual report.

“There is no need to worry about anything like ‘too big to fail’ because the fact is, the property sector only represents a small portion of Hong Kong’s economy and bank loans,” he said. “As such, the risks are manageable.”

The phrase “too big to fail” became widely known during the 2008 global financial crisis and it refers to the idea that companies can be so large and interconnected that the failure of one firm can ripple outward to other businesses and the economy as a whole.

In May, Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices were down 28 per cent from a peak in September 2021, according to government statistics.

Some prominent developers have lately required debt restructurings. New World Development (NWD) ­successfully refinanced HK$88.2 billion (US$11.2 billion) worth of debt before a June 30 deadline after months of negotiations that pulled the developer back from the brink of default.­
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