Tall buildings portend lows

A new report has suggested that financial woes often follow the construction of record breaking tall buildings — and warned that China and India, where the tall tower craze is currently booming, should take heed. China is home to half of the world's skyscrapers — defined as buildings over 240 metres (787 feet) tall — currently under construction while India boasts 14 ongoing tall tower projects, including the world's second-tallest tower in the financial capital Mumbai. "Building booms are a sign of excess credit," Andrew Lawrence, director of property research at Barclays Capital in Hong Kong, said yesterday, pointing out that the Great Recession followed the construction of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings in the 1920s in New York, and Malaysia's Petronas Tower — constructed in 1997 — preceded the Asian Financial Crisis. Meanwhile as work was carried out on Dubai's $4.1 billion (Dh15.05 billion) Burj Khalifa, completed in 2010, the world slid into recession. However, signs of trouble are escalating in China and India. Home to 53 per cent of the 124 skyscrapers now under construction globally, China is primed to increase its stock of skyscrapers by 87 per cent. India, which has just two skyscrapers but is building 14 more, takes top honours for hubris: The second tallest building in the world, the Tower of India, is now under construction in Mumbai.