When Hong Kong's cash-rich property developers began to make their first serious investments in mainland property five years ago, the market seemed rich in potential.
Foreign investors poured into China at unprecedented rates.
High-quality office space and domestic accommodation were in acutely short supply, and a bottomless pool of cheap labour promised fast construction time and even faster returns.
Today, however, dreams of an easy killing have soured. Hong Kong's developers have suffered from a drop in demand resulting from the economic crisis.
At the same time they have seriously miscalculated how the local game would be played.
The conditions that turned Hong Kong's property market into a money-making machine for local developers - a controlled supply of new land, honest and efficient administration, and lightning-fast project turnarounds - have been sorely absent in cross-border operations.