The combination of the investment boom and fixed exchange rates led to over-investment
in some sectors, and a moderate decline in investment quality. One indicator of eroding
investment quality is the fact that incremental capital-output ratios rose across the region,
although it is worth noting that they rose by an amount not much greater than in several non-crisis
emerging markets. In each country, an increasing share of bank loans went towards construction,
real estate, finance, and other services. In Thailand, both property and equity share prices soared,
then began to plummet in late 1996, putting pressure on financial institutions that had lent to these
activities and thereby helping to set the crisis in motion. But this pattern was less obvious in other
countries. In Indonesia, for example, there was essentially no change in property prices in Jakarta
after 1992. In Korea, overinvestment was focussed more on certain manufacturing sectors, such
as semiconductors and steel, rather than on real estate and services.