Swire Pacific eyes property expansion across region, says chairman

Swire Pacific's chairman believes the government's property cooling measures are paying off, but he warns that rising competition for skilled workers will push up wages and prices.

In an interview with , Christopher Pratt said Swire was looking to expand its property investment footprint across China and Southeast Asia, and the firm had high hopes of Cathay Pacific's ties with shareholder Air China, which he felt would define this decade for the airline.

Pratt said measures such as the doubling of stamp duty and a law that prohibits developers from listing the gross floor area of flats in sales brochures "had taken the heat out [of the market and] in that sense they have been successful".

But he was reluctant to estimate the size of a possible fall in prices. "Do I think there will be a major crash? I don't sense the conditions exist for such [a thing] to happen … supply is still constrained; money is still historically cheap. In the absence of the increases in stamp duty who knows where the market would be?"

Swire Properties was seeing "good retail demand in its property portfolio" with "no evidence of substantial softening".

But Pratt warned that competition for skilled workers including those working at the airport and construction would likely increase salaries and costs.

"Prices in several industries will go up," Pratt said, adding these would include hotels and the service sector. He said Haeco, Swire's aircraft maintenance firm, had awarded a "hefty" pay increase and also had the benefit of cheaper operations at its Xiamen maintenance base.