Mixed in 1980

Chapter 367 Explosive Growth Mode
The sales office was vandalized, employees were assaulted on their way to and from get off work, and even the general manager received personal threats.

Chen Fan frowned deeply. The saying that cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents was indeed true. There weren't many people in Hong Kong who dared to mess with him.

This situation really pushes people to their limits.

After a moment's hesitation, Chen Fan calmed himself down, his voice turning somewhat cold: "Can you find out who did it? What did the police say?"

“The British hired someone to do it, and the police just dealt with it superficially. They simply took the person back, detained them for a few days, and then released them. They also gave compensation.” Zhou Wenya smiled bitterly.

Chen Fan gritted his teeth: "Tell Ma Xifeng that the employees who were beaten must be fully compensated, and each of them should receive an additional bonus. We must not be stingy."

"Mr. Ma has already made the arrangements."

"That's OK!"

Chen Fan frowned again: "Given the current situation, how long can the housing market be suppressed?"

Zhou Wenya smiled wryly: "Forced suppression is not impossible, but if we do that, Xinghuo Real Estate will become the enemy of the people, and there will be no shortage of similar incidents of vandalism."

Business is never as simple as it seems!
Having lived two lives, Chen Fan has seen too much. When business fails to achieve its goals, it is accompanied by all sorts of dirty tricks, as well as political and military pressures.

Over the course of a year, too much money was poured into the UK, as well as from Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, mainland China, and Hong Kong.

If they can't achieve their goal, they'll resort to even dirtier methods, like vandalizing the sales office and assaulting people. But these are child's play; at best, they're just a warning.

Before 1997, the British had plenty of ways to get things done.

The British have shown great patience by enduring a year, and they also used this year to buy up goods at low prices. Chen Fan's price-cutting strategy, in a sense, was in their best interest.

Entering 96, the British were going to start raising prices to ship their goods, and they obviously wouldn't allow Chen Fan to continue to lower prices. If necessary, they might even resort to political means to resolve the issue.

Long ago, Chen Fan had already anticipated this and made contingency plans: "Notify Ma Xifeng to hold a press conference and announce that all properties will raise prices after the Spring Festival."

"We'll push sales to another peak before the Spring Festival."

"First, we'll absorb a wave of purchasing power. After the Spring Festival, everyone will work together to drive up prices, aiming to push prices to their peak in the shortest possible time."

The original plan was to suppress prices until the end of 96, when prices would be driven up to their highest point, and then create the illusion of a market crash.

Plans can't keep up with changes.

The situation changed when Swire Properties acquired 9300 existing homes; their resources changed, and their plans had to change accordingly.

By quickly driving up prices, trading volume can be locked in, making it unaffordable for ordinary people, and without any visible upward potential, preventing them from entering the market.

This involves an operation that must break the lie that "housing prices will always rise" and create the illusion that housing prices will fall.

To prevent ordinary consumers from being misled into investing with high leverage, which would truly lead to them being exploited by foreign capital.

The authorities will cooperate in creating the illusion!
As for how much capital will die in the process, Chen Fan doesn't care. It's best if they're half-dead so that he can buy them at the bottom when the economic crisis hits.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Fan called Hu Yingxiang again: "Comrade Hu, how's the progress of our Xinghuo No. 1 Building? Will it be completed smoothly in 1997?"

"If you want to know, come to Guangzhou and see for yourself!"

It would have been better if he hadn't asked. But once he did, Hu Yingxiang was furious: "How many years has it been since the project started? You've only come to see it once. How dare you ask?"

Chen Fan touched his nose and teased, "Why would I worry about entrusting it to you? We agreed on a tribute to '97.' If you don't deliver, I'll definitely make trouble for you."

Hu Yingxiang retorted angrily, "Get lost! Do you think everyone is as unreliable as you? It will open to the public on July 1st next year, so stop worrying about it."

"Look at what you're saying. As a major shareholder, am I not allowed to care?"

Chen Fan, feeling embarrassed, quickly changed the subject: "You know what's going on in Hong Kong, right? Several of my family's property sales offices have been vandalized."

Hu Yingxiang grunted and said irritably, "It's not just your house that got smashed. My house was also smashed in one place, and Li Zhaoji's house was smashed in two places."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but curse in Cantonese: "You banana-eating British devil, may your whole family be rich!"

"The British devils hired gangs to do it. They used such despicable methods. That's all the foreigners can do. If they can't win openly, they resort to underhanded tactics."

Chen Fan was surprised; Zhou Wenya hadn't mentioned any of that.

After thinking for a moment, he said directly, "I'll have Ma Xifeng hold a press conference and announce a collective price increase after the New Year. We'll also boost sales before the New Year. Whether you follow suit or not is up to you."

Following the lead means boosting sales volume; not following the lead means raising prices after the New Year and then selling, which can earn a lot more money.

Chen Fan did not make any mandatory demands, as it concerned everyone's personal interests, but since he owned many houses, he would definitely have to deal with some of them.

Hu Yingxiang also owns many properties, so he immediately decided to follow suit. Chen Fan then called Li Zhaoji, who, as a major real estate developer, also wanted to join in.

The same goes for the other allies!
Within a day or two, everyone tacitly held a press conference, deciding to raise prices after the New Year and stating that a batch of houses would be sold at the original price before the New Year.

This is tantamount to throwing stones into a lake.

Hong Kong's property market instantly became abuzz. Before the price surge, buying a property was considered a sure win, and both ordinary customers and various types of capital rushed in to snap up apartments.

Many large investors have approached Xinghuo Real Estate directly, wanting to buy properties. However, Ma Xifeng has only one stance: buying is possible, but only if the price increases by HK$500 per square foot from the current rate. That's the price after the Lunar New Year!
Unexpectedly, people actually bought them, and several buildings were sold out in one go. The media followed up with extensive reports, and the new houses launched by Xinghuo Real Estate became "sold out in seconds".

After the properties were sold out, there was no need to wait for the Lunar New Year; property prices had already begun to rise, and by a significant margin, with the average price quickly climbing to HK$7800 per square foot.

"If the ox won't drink water, we'll force it to lower its head. Sure enough, Chen Fan and his group couldn't hold on any longer."

A group of British people gathered together, all representatives of various real estate companies and conglomerates. Governor Peng Dingkang, smoking a cigar, said: "After the Chinese New Year, we'll push up housing prices again, and then we can cash out and leave the market."

Swire Properties' Ho Lee-tai laughed loudly: "The average price has surged by HK$500 per square foot, which is HK$5500 per square meter. Market sentiment has been ignited."

“Once emotions run high, they can’t be contained. After the Chinese New Year, within two months, they can push housing prices up to HK$9000 per square foot.”

"You can cash out at this price!"

With that, he raised his glass and downed it in one gulp: "After next year, all that will be left for the Chinese people is a Hong Kong that could collapse at any moment."

"Cheers!" Everyone raised their glasses.

After next year, many people will find themselves in negative equity because the value of their homes is lower than the amount of their loans to banks.

Countless middle-class people will lose their wealth, various forms of discontent will increase, and social contradictions in Hong Kong will intensify dramatically.

This is what Britain wanted to leave for China!

As for them, they will leave Hong Kong with enormous wealth and dignity, then coldly watch the time bombs they planted explode one after another.

All of this is about to come true!
Given the current housing market conditions and strong purchasing power, as long as Chen Fan doesn't cause trouble, he can quickly push up housing prices.

As the year draws to a close, Chen Fan stops paying attention to housing prices and is dragged by Zhao Yuanyuan to go to the local market.

Sneaking out of the house, Miss Zhao grinned smugly, "I escaped in time this time, and those naughty kids didn't catch up with me."

Chen Fan teased, "When you come back this afternoon, your daughter will definitely be angry with you."

Miss Zhao didn't care: "It's okay, the sulking will only last one night. I'll take her with me tomorrow. She's just a little brat, I don't know where she learned that stubbornness from."

Chen Fan's lips twitched. Who else could he learn from?

It's genetic!

Miss Zhao bought a lot of things and didn't get home until after 4 p.m. Unsurprisingly, Yan Yin was holding the little panda, pouting and not saying a word.

When she saw her father coming over to hug her, the little girl turned her head away and walked away.

Chen Fan smiled wryly and looked at his eldest daughter: "Yan Xi, go and coax your sister, and she'll listen to you."

"I'm not happy yet," Yan Xi pouted.

Chen Fan smiled and pinched his eldest daughter's cheek: "Starting tomorrow, I'll take you there every day until New Year's Eve, is that alright?"

"You keep your word?" Yan Xi frowned.

Chen Fan nodded repeatedly: "I definitely mean it. Go and appease them. There's also the Ditan Temple Fair on the second day of the Lunar New Year. I'll take you all there."

Yan Xi was finally satisfied and went back to the room to coax his younger sister.

I don't know how she coaxed her, but by the time they finished eating, Yan Yin had a smile on her face, though she didn't give her parents a friendly look.

It wasn't until the next day, when we took her to the market, that the little girl cheered up. At the market, she kept asking for this and that, and had a great time.

The year has passed by in a great and enjoyable way!

As expected, Xinghuo Real Estate's first task after resuming work after the Lunar New Year was to prepare for the launch of the project, raising the price by HK$500 per square foot based on last year's prices.

This is just the beginning!
Hang Seng Bank's shareholders joined forces to raise prices, constantly generating positive news, and various foreign investors and media followed suit, turning everyone into a community of shared interests.

British capital went even further, directly reducing land supply and holding a press conference: the land supply in 1996 was only one-third of the original amount.

Furthermore, no land will be supplied in the first half of 1997.

In addition, the sharp drop in mortgage rates further fueled the speculation frenzy, leading to the most dramatic price surge in Hong Kong's property market in history.

The price changes almost every day!

The shareholders of Hang Seng Bank are also fully cooperating, even creating various "fake transactions" to stimulate the property market through cross-acquisition.

Just over a month has passed, and it's only the beginning of March in the Gregorian calendar. The average price of properties has already exceeded HK$9000 per square foot, and it's not far from the HK$3 mark.

Everyone thought that just a little more effort would be enough!

In fact, real estate speculators have already shouted those two famous slogans: "No matter how much housing prices rise, the mainland will definitely take over" and "It's foolish not to buy a house if you have money!"
The logic is simple: Hong Kong is so rich, and the mainland is so poor. After 1997, wealthy people from the mainland will inevitably flow into Hong Kong to become the suckers of wealth.

Their reasoning and logic are exactly the same as their belief in the future: that migrant workers who become rich will inevitably become the ones who take over the burdens of big cities.

But at this very moment, a momentous event is unfolding on the vast ocean!
PS: First update! Thanks for your support, everyone! Please vote!
(End of this chapter)