2018 UPDATES:
Typical housing prices in Kangbashi have fallen from $1,100 to $470 per square foot, over the last five years alone.
It is being reported that 64.5 million urban electricity meters registered zero consumption over a recent, six-month period in China. That led to a theory that China has enough empty apartments to house 200 million people. The story is related to the housing bubble, as the CAIXIN TABLOID reported in the summer of 2012.
2018 Update: The Chinese government intends to relocate 100 million people from rural areas into metropolitan cities by 2020. According to Forbes, “cities and extensions get built purely based on speculation, but not on direct demand. Massive stretches are built, and it is assumed that the future growth and prosperity will somehow fill the space up.”
An alarming report by Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not only walks us through the abandoned city streets, but explains how there are now entire cities being created all over China with no one living in them. “Statistical transparency is lacking in this area, so the truth about empty apartments remains under wraps. Publishing accurate data should be of the highest priority, since the size of the nation’s unused apartment stock is perhaps the most important measure of the extent and seriousness of China’s property market bubble. Indeed, it’s a grave concern for policy making, since unpublished data may indicate not only a price bubble but a quantity bubble burdening the market.”
China is often cited as having used within just three years the amount of concrete the US did in the entire 20th century.
There is major concern for the Chinese middle-class. The middle class have invested massively in property and now estimates suggest that property invest accounts for as much as 20-30% of the economy. As many as 24 new cities are being built every year! The Government has allowed this expansion to continue to keep the economy growing but the level of infrastructure development is far ahead of the demand for property.
Were you aware that the country of China is slightly smaller than the USA?
How Large is China?
Population: 1.379 billion (2016) World Bank
Area: 3.705 million miles
How Big is the USA?
United States of America
Country in North America
Population: 323.1 million (2016)
Area: 3.797 million miles
2009 It was in Ordos Kangbashi that the Chinese ghost city narrative was born.
Empty Cities?
One ghost city in Inner Mongolia, built to house one million people, is now an empty shell of unoccupied skyscrapers and abandoned construction sites.
As many as 24 new cities are being built every year! How is this possible ? The Chinese Government has allowed for this this expansion to continue i order to keep their economy growing but the level of infrastructure development is far ahead of the demand for property.
12-20-2015 UPDATES
“Wang Shi, CEO of Vanke told “60 Minutes” that developers are deep in debt. Many have abandoned projects midway through because the money dried up. He warned that if the bubble really did burst, China could see its version of the Arab Spring.”
A housing bubble could literally destroy China’s financial market for good, with no recovery in sight.
Just outside Angola’s capitol city of Luanda is Nova Cidade de Kilamba a residential development of 750 eight-story apartment buildings, a dozen schools, and more than 100 retail units, reports the BBC’s Louise Redvers.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-built-ghost-town-kilamba-angola-2012-7?op=1#ixzz2Rc1ARbra
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/60-minutes-chinas-ghost-cities-2013-3#ixzz2Rc2cHYMy
The middle class have invested massively in property and now estimates suggest that property investment accounts for as much as 20-30% of the economy,with 24 new cities are being built every year! The Government has allowed this expansion to continue to keep the economy growing but the level of infrastructure development is far ahead of the demand for property. Developers are going bankrupt, and in most cases have simply abandoned the projects for miles and miles.
We found that 60 minutes has the best coverage on this story, please watch it! Astounding!
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Actually the reports by the MSM are exaggerated and those cities are filling up with people. if you're interested to learn more, see this series about a guy visiting the so-called ghost cities and finding plenty of life I'm them
http://thechinachronicle.com/zhengzhou-zhengdong-china-largest-ghost-city/
Thanks so much for the information, we will take a look at this, much mahalo !
This seems a little crazy.. Is there a purpose we can not see beyond this. Maybe so. I'm sure we will awaken soon.
Simple math will tell you who has a bigger housing problem:
China: population 1,400 million, 65 million empty APARTMENTS.
USA: population 300 million, 18 million empty HOUSES.
China's empty apartments MAYBE need 90 million people (7% of pop)
USA's empty housing needs about 60 million people (20% of pop).
And in addition, the Chinese are very stubborn and there won't be a major panic/sell-off. Chinese developers often just sit for decades on a property rather than sell for less than what they want.
Whereas American real estate prices can plummet FAST (see California).
Hello Jon. We wanted to update you : First of all, you got this right, and since we posted this article, matters are worsening in China.WALL STREET JOURNAL found that the problem lies in the excess supply in China's third-tier cities. Vacancy rates for homes constructed in the past five years stand at 15% but are projected to rise over 20% in 2016-17. Rent is as low as $65 a month in commercial leasing in the city of Ordos .
Ava, I agree with you. I also believe there is somthing very sinister going on here!
They should put their money towards cleaning up the environment!
The fact is, NO ONE is moving into the housing. Second fact is many purchased the housing at very high prices , 3 generations money as investment, now that the housing bubble looms on China, it will wipe out 3 generations of their money. Keep in mind, they bulldozed homes from the elderly and the poor, as well as took out many farming plantations, to which millions are now homeless and living in the streets Alan Jones, so tell me, how is this SMART? Rick Martinez, part of what you suggest is spot on.......Cynthia Hamil, they are building 24 cities a year, but they have hit a STOP because all of the developers loans are defaulting, it is a financial mess, and a collapse is loooimng as the LEAD developer has explained....it will be the largest housing bubble the world has ever seen.