12:06AM
The housing bubble that is China
Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 12:06AM 
FT story.
Hard to see how 68% price rise in China is sustainable. If the central gov's braking efforts are working, then I'd hate to consider the price rise without them!
China's rise 07-09 was amazingly modest compared to the last 12 months, which equates to roughly 4 times as fast a rise as the rest of Asia-Pacific.
Reader Comments (1)
The chart promulgates a common obfuscation of matters that arises when comparing the “surge” in homeownership in China vs. the rest of the world — it implies there is such a thing as homeownership in China.
What the PRC is calling homeownership is what we in the U.S. (and most countries for that matter) call a long term lease.
There is no such thing as homeownership in China, yet. At this time, one may purchase a 90 year lease for a residential property. In other words, one may lease property from the government, but one does not actually own anything other than a right to occupy a property for that period of time stated within one's lease. Given that (as best as my sources can discern) the lease is non-transferable to a lessee’s next-of-kin or other designee should the lessee die, this situation is even less similar to “ownership” than the Chinese government wants the world — but more importantly the Chinese people — to perceive it to be.
(ie. The chart is a perfect example of journalistic negligence)
Michael S. Smith II