A skyscraper building boom in China and India may be a sign of an impending economic correction in two of Asia's largest economies, according to a new report by Barclays Capital. Barclays has mapped an “unhealthy correlation” between construction of the world's tallest buildings and impending financial crises over the last 140 years. Today, China is home to half of the world's skyscrapers — defined as buildings over 240 meters (787 feet) tall — currently under construction. India, which has just two skyscrapers, is seeing its first skyscraper building boom, with 14 under construction, 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 Wednesday. Historically, skyscraper construction has been characterized by bursts of sporadic, but intense activity that coincide with easy credit, rising land prices and excessive optimism, but often by the time skyscrapers are finished, the economy has slipped into recession, Lawrence said. The Great Depression hit as the finishing touches were being put on three record-breaking buildings in New York: 40 Wall Street, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, which were all completed between 1929 and 1931, Barclays noted in a Jan. 10 report.
