Chinese Housing Bubble Looming on the Horizon?

I thought I would forego a long-winded post tonight and post a video instead. I got this one off of Twitter via Raw Milk Colorado, and it is about the Chinese housing bubble, a fascinating subject, indeed.

Of course, China is still a state-controlled economy, and the Chinese government has been relentlessly driving large infrastructure projects, including big housing developments. The problem is that these big apartment blocks and shopping malls are, in some cases, largely sitting empty. In one city, only 25% of all the apartments are occupied, and this has been true for over half a decade with no signs of change showing themselves. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the housing prices make affording a property a luxury that is available only to the wealthy, in some cases.

It seems fairly obvious that this is a result of government intervention. State planning can never truly anticipate the needs of the market. This was true back in the USSR, and it is true today in China. Unfortunately, it would appear that China has a housing bubble to rival that of the US bubble that burst back in 2008. That bubble is currently on the upswing, which means that it’s due to burst sometime in the nearish future. Encouraging. Just what you wanted to hear, right?

Anyway, the video is about 15 minutes long and very interesting. I highly recommend you take a gander, when you have a few minutes to spare. Enjoy!

**Sorry, I had to just paste the link on the page.  For some annoying reason, the URL wasn’t showing up.  Not sure if it’s the link or WordPress, but if you copy and paste it into a new window, there shouldn’t be any problems.