Beijing's planned takeover of Chinese residential real estate might cloak the nation's property crisis, but it will surely kill China’s fundamental economic momentum.
If the leaks and rumors are true, Beijing stands ready to launch a new and radical solution to the economy’s property crisis – a government takeover. What the authorities refer to as “a new model” would replace the old emphasis on ownership with more rentals and use government funds to buy up bankrupt properties so that in time the government’s role in real estate would rise from 5% of the market at present to 30%. Such an act would surely take the nation back to its communist roots if not quite the days of Mao Zedong. If it would veil the property crisis for a time, it would in the long run do tremendous damage to China’s economic prospects.
Beijing’s ability to manage real estate also comes into question after considering how poorly the authorities have managed things to date. Prior to 2020, Beijing actively encouraged residential real estate development, pushing local authorities to get involved and ensuring easy credit terms for both developers and homebuyers. Private builders and speculators responded actively, taking on debt and pursuing increasingly dubious projects so that even as China was meeting its housing needs, such development reached the astronomical level of some 30% of China’s economy. Then in 2020, Beijing abruptly removed all this support. Not surprisingly, the highly leveraged and extended developers began failing almost immediately.
oh no! not the speculators! it would be a real shame if a bunch of capitalists lost tons of money and all we got out of it was all this housing that now we can buy up for cheap!
Since US prices are so high, they were salivating at a Chinese housing crisis. That way they could enter the Chinese market and buy up properties for cheap. But since the government is going to buy up the cheap homes, they can't enter the market. So now comes the propaganda tantrum about how there's no way this will work, it's evil, it's authoritarian.
Problem is that shit only works on Americans. Appealing to Chinese people's sens of individualistic English property rights doesn't really work.
Finally, while it will be a tough year or two for the commercial real estate community, I expect the amount of capital on the sidelines will open up the market and create once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. As the old adage goes in real estate, "It is not the first or second but the third owner who makes money on a project." The opportunities will be plentiful, but the buyers will have to view the assets through a new lens.
Since US prices are so high, they were salivating at a Chinese housing crisis. That way they could enter the Chinese market and buy up properties for cheap. But since the government is going to buy up the cheap homes, they can't enter the market.
Incompetent Chinese property developer: "I consent!"
Soulless American hedge fund: "I consent!"
The Communist Party of China: "Was there somebody you forgot to ask?"
Prior to 2020, Beijing actively encouraged residential real estate development. . . [Developers persued] increasingly dubious projects so that even as China was meeting its housing needs. . . Then in 2020, Beijing abruptly removed all this support.
So they funded housing development until there were plenty of houses at which point they stopped funding more development and this is bad for some reason? What did they want them to do, continue encouraging development when there wasn't a need for it solely to prop up the investors?
If they had done that, then we could get more of the stories about the ghost cities that are the harbinger of China's imminent collapse. I've been reading those articles for decades. They've kept a lot of journalists busy.
No but see we can't trust anything China's government says it's going to do even though it has a long and storied history of doing literally exactly what it says it's going to do because ... reasons? I guess? So we can only trust anonymous sources instead.
There is no 'property crisis', its made up by the market.
When 2008 housing bubble burst, the problem wasn't that the homes magically vanished, the homes remained, taken over by ghouls and leaving the individuals with debt which wasn't wiped off clean.
getting some of this probably. wonder if a FOIA would be able to find out where it all goes
(a) Countering Chinese influence
fund.
—There is authorized to be appropriated $300,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2021 through 2025 for the Countering Chinese Influence Fund to
counter the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party globally.
Amounts appropriated pursuant to this authorization are authorized to
remain available until expended and shall supplement, not supplant,
amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated to counter such
influence.
EDIT: apparently this money passed the senate but never actually became law. my apologies
We need to create an organization and start requesting funds from this and pump out a bunch of “china is bad because it gives housing for low prices” articles
use government funds to buy up bankrupt properties so that in time the government’s role in real estate would rise from 5% of the market at present to 30%
We should let unused, bankrupt property be repo’d by banks so they can use it to gamble on doge coin
They're seething because normally they'd be swooping in to buy up all the housing for pennies in the dollar so that they can charge whatever rent they want to.
Yeah I think the "free" capitalist Singapore has like 78% of their population living in public housing...yet you don't see these fascists fearmongering about how Singapore is "foolish" and "communist" for doing so.
Lmao, what "crisis"? That there's a surplus of housing and people are easily able to afford to live? This is what only being able to see things through the lens of profit does to a mf.
Fun fact: a lot of these articles actually are done for free or even the author pays the website/publisher. The telltale sign - as is the case here - is when the author works in a profession where they need to generate business (like investment managers) and especially when they have a book to sell. The author here almost certainly wrote this so he gets exposure as an “investment guru”.
Liberals critiquing Marxism: “Fear not, for Don Quixote has come to relieve you of your delusions! Those aren’t windmills you’re seeing, you utter fucking morons, they’re giants! Wake up sheeple!”
So glad they could tell us what to think of China's plans (foolish) rather than just do their damn jobs and just report the damn news and save their opinions for their damn blog.
the maoist uprising against the landlords was the largest and most comprehensive proletarian revolution in history, and led to almost totally-equal redistribution of land among the peasantry