Developers' protests on weak foundations

When coming back to an interrupted task, the idea is to start again where you left off.

So where was I? Let's see now. It was back in July 1981 that I decided to take up a career as an investment analyst and handed in my resignation as a business reporter to this newspaper's editor.

My timing was impeccable. As I recall it, my resignation went in almost to the minute that the Hang Seng Index peaked before a nasty three-year bear market.

What an auspicious start to a job in stockbroking.

And now, with the stock market sagging, property prices crumbling and Dr Doom proving himself a prophet, I have returned to journalism. I have done with my 17-year sabbatical what stockbrokers tell their clients not to do but so often do themselves. I bought at the top and sold at the bottom.

The story I was working on back in 1981 was, as it is now, the troubles of the property market. Property prices had already started to come down five months before the market peaked. There was clear evidence of over-building, fuelled by an unrestrained surge of liquidity, and the boom was headed for a bust.

Does this sound familiar? Don't nod your head in agreement too quickly. There were differences, and one in particular I think is worth highlighting. Over-building of new homes by the private sector is not in evidence at present.