Hot demand for property in the Kowloon Station area has also led the MTR Corp and Hang Lung Properties to break from the tradition of sharing profit on the sale of units, to dividing them up between themselves to cash in on the properties as they wish.

Finally, a Repulse Bay project of four Headland Road houses put up for sale by Henderson Land was said to have received an offer from some Hunan investors who are willing to pay HK$60,000 per square foot, according to one newspaper report.

We know there is a lot of money sloshing around on the mainland from the 4 trillion yuan (HK$4.54 trillion) stimulus package and massive first-half lending by the banks, but the figure does seem a bit far-fetched.

Thankfully, a UBS report brought things back down to earth with an estimate the houses are worth HK$14,000 per square foot.

Culture shock

Actually, buying property in Hong Kong can be a harrowing experience for our mainland cousins, as a reporter from the Guangzhou Daily found out recently when she joined a weekend tour for 40 potential investors organised by Midland Realty.

The first thing that shocked her was that transactions are conducted with the properties unseen. For example, the party was taken to a sales office in Tsim Sha Tsui, miles away from the New World Development flats they were being encouraged to buy in Tsuen Wan.

Another disconcerting observation was that, unlike on the mainland, property developers here use more than one agency to sell their flats - she obviously wasn't impressed with the hard-sell tactics that can resemble being trapped in a rugby scrum.

But the most unnerving aspect was being photographed by the Hong Kong media - the realtors saw the tour as a perfect publicity opportunity.

'In China, reporters taking photos in a property sales office are about as unwelcome as a robbery, but in Hong Kong, property developers are worried if reporters are not taking photos,' she said.

Mining for trouble

Sino Gold Mining, which only last week announced a joint venture to expand exploration near its White Mountain Mine in Jilin province, had to halt operations yesterday as protesting farmers blocked the main access road.

The group of 20 farmers from a village less than four kilometres from the mine is demanding compensation because of concern about water discharged from the underground operation affecting their wells.

Sino Gold, which is listed in Hong Kong and Australia, started production at White Mountain in October. The company said it was 'not appropriate to pay compensation [in] these circumstances, especially as it may encourage other groups to pursue similar unsubstantiated claims'.

The row had little effect on its shares, which rose 4.4 per cent in Hong Kong and 3.2 per cent in Sydney.

Warren's windfall

Warren Buffett (below) must be happy counting the money from his second major stock investment in China.

As BYD became a HK$100 billion company yesterday, the investment guru hit another jackpot by sitting on a close to HK$10 billion profit on a HK$1.8 billion investment he made in September last year.

The electric car and battery maker yesterday closed at HK$48 after hitting an intraday high of HK$51.75, up five times his entry cost of HK$8 in September last year.

Still a job magnet

'Gloomy results - and still no uptick in sight', says the headline in the latest edition of Cathay Pacific Airways' in-house magazine.

But the clouds hanging over the airline sector don't seem to deter the big crowd that wants jobs in it.

Elsewhere in CX World it said there were 28,673 applications to be cabin crew in Hong Kong last year. That's a lot of times to have to say: 'Sorry, we're operating a hiring freeze at the moment.'