'China’s Real Estate Market on the Decline'

from epoch times.....


"China’s overheated real estate market is showing signs of correction. With a glut of overpriced, vacant residential real estate on their hands, many large developers in Beijing have been offering steep discounts recently, even 60 percent. But the developers may be taking a hard hit, Chinese experts say, as they are sitting on a mountain of debt, according to a recent report.

During the past couple of years China has experienced a real estate boom. Residential real estate prices have gone sky-high. Behind the boom have been local governments who needed to prop up their GDP numbers, large real estate development companies taking out mega-loans, and a small, rich, select group of citizens scrambling for a safe place to park their money.

Thrown into the mix are many other factors, including forced evictions, opaque connections between state and private enterprises, corruption, and the central regime’s all-pervasive macro management, making this a real estate boom with “Chinese characteristics.”

Now there is a glut of vacant residential real estate, and developers are feeling the heat to sell them off by lowering prices. But lowering prices is a problem for the debt-laden developers and banks"...........READ MORE