Posted on 08/25/2022 8:46:11 AM PDT by SpeedyInTexas
A two-decade boom in real estate made many Chinese families feel richer. Now that the market has turned, many are curbing spending as their wealth declines, worsening the country’s economic slowdown.
In dozens of cities, average prices for new and secondhand homes have fallen since September, with no sign of a recovery on the horizon. Numerous property developers have defaulted and stopped construction, sending sales lower and triggering a wider loss of confidence in the market.
Now, many Chinese property owners are curbing spending and saving more as they worry about the possibility of further falls in home values ahead.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Archived version: https://archive.ph/yXEuy
Times are tough in China. It used to be a lot cheaper to feed a family of 3 on dog.
I’ve read stories about their “ghost cities”. They buy apartments that never get finished. And no attempt to visit or move into the development.
Yeah....crazy.
Chinese take out a mortgage (or pay cash) for a new apartment before construction even begins. So developer has the money upfront. Developer will then use the money to fund construction... Until the developer has financial problems and can’t complete construction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3XfpYxHKCo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8TbOPzpeKc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WcPrHBjJnA
I am actually amazed there is not more anger in China about how they have been ripped off. This country has flaws, but nothing on the scale of what goes on there. There probably are a lot of hard feelings, but the average citizen feels powerless to do anything. There is also far more of a herd mentality there.
I went to China on a biz trip a decade ago. Even then, I saw how shoddy their new construction was. And disorganized. Brand new high rise apartments built right next to slums. People swimming in obviously polluted rivers. A few high profile things were amazing, like the Bejing subway and new international airport, but otherwise it was like a Potemkin village.
Oh—and no toilet paper in public restrooms!!
Nationalism is part of it. Until recently China was acknowledged inside and outside the country to be rising. Their schoolchildren learn all about the country’s “century of shame” from 1842 to 1949, and I have met many educated and accomplished Chinese over the years who pre-COVID were happy with the way things were. It’s their country, and like people in every country many default to “therefore I support my government.”.
But not all of course. But if any of them speak out they are immediately seen as threatening the CCP hold on power, and punished ruthlessly. New surveillance technology, improved because of the COVID lockdown policy (including exclusionary health codes on all phones that the government can change at any time for any reason) has made this worse.
The good and bad:
Bejing subway: Yes, pretty good. People actually line up to enter a train compartment. No more mob all pushing in together any more. People have improved on that.
Public restrooms: Yes, pretty bad. Avoid if possible. Always try to use the lobby of one of the hotels around the city.
Those cities look like San Francisco 2020
Very Scary and Eerie...
Do the Chinese stop buying American takeout food? : )
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