As I write this I am watching the Cable TV broadcast of Hong Kong's latest land auction. Under the system the HK Government lists various blocks of land available for development and a minimum reserve price. Once a developer is prepared to at least pay the reserve it sets off an auction which is open to all comers for that property. In times past this was a major revenue generator for the HK Government, but since the property crash this source has dried up.

Until today. The bidding for the block at Ho Man Tin, expected to go for around HK$7.22 billion, is currently bid at HK$8.42 billion with no end in sight. The main bidders are a company gweilo, a lawyer looking type and some dodgy looking guy with a cap pulled low over his face. I'm guessing Tung Che-hwa is watching and having a jolly good time watch property developers quickly eroding what's left of HK's budget deficit. Clearly Hong Kong is on the rebound.

UPDATE: $8.54 billion with the dodgy cap guy and still going.
UPDATE 2: $8.92 billion while I went for coffee and still going. When does Tung announce tax cuts?
UPDATE 3: Dodgy cap guy for Chief Exec! Bidding at $9.06 billion or almost $2 billion above expections.
UPDATE 4: The gweilo's back, bidding $9.28 billion, but the shadowy lawyer type keeps coming back. $9.3 billion bid...it must be a good price because now the whole office is watching, not just the gweilos.
Final UPDATE: The gweilo won at $9.42 billion or US$1.2 billion. That's a hell of a lot of schools, police, doctors...