Claudia Cheung Man-wan, corporate affairs director and head of human resources at K.Wah International Holdings, said: 'As a property developer we would also like a more holistic range of measures in the coming phases, not only with more detailed guidelines for our better positioning and planning, but also an extension of the financially beneficial packages offered to more sophisticated homebuyers, both up-graders and investors at large.'

It is clear that potential buyers with strong financial backgrounds have cautiously changed their investment strategy during the global investment downturn.

Aloysius Lee Tse-sang, managing director of the commercial unit of Shui On Land, said: 'We see some local and overseas buyers who do not need financial facilities from banks buying property for long-term investment purposes. However, they are choosing properties based on quality and location.'

While predicting where the market will head in the next 12 months is difficult, a few established developers that have expanded quickly in the mainland in recent years have put some of their projects on hold. However, it is business as usual for smaller developers.

Ms Cheung said: 'We are not stopping any of our projects like other big developers who own bigger land banks in China. We are keeping our ongoing projects running but at a slower pace in view of the [global financial] situation so that we can take time to re-think our marketing strategy before we launch our next project.'

With the major mainland cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen swamped with construction work, some developers target smaller cities for their potential and relatively lower investment capital.

Mr Lee said: 'Our company has eight projects going at various stages of development in Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Dalian, Foshan and Yunnan, and they are a mix of projects including residential, commercial and tourism-related.'

While the pace of projects in China will unavoidably slow down, property developers that are moving at a steady pace are still looking for experienced people to work on a cluster of projects.

Ms Cheung said: 'We hold a balanced portfolio in property investment and that keeps us safe when there is a financial crisis. As a result of that we have the opportunity to recruit high-calibre people with strong technical backgrounds and proven leadership and management skills. If they also have China exposure that would be a plus.'

Opportunities to work in the mainland will also be available to people who are passionate about gaining overseas experience, though it would depend on individual companies' requirements for manpower deployment.

Mr Lee said: 'In view of the company's growth we have adopted a series of human resources strategies to cope with our talent demand such as outposting staff to projects in various mainland cities, departmental transfers and project rotation.

'The aim of all of this is to develop and retain staff and help improve their level of competence.'

Staff can experience different work environments and cultures, and 'they are also provided with extensive learning opportunities and training to be ready for a bigger challenge when the economy regains upward momentum and they can become a key part of the management in future', he said.

Mainland