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China's Housing Market Slump Deepens as Empty Homes Abound and Developers Teeter

  • China's property sector has slumped since 2021 when China Evergrande defaulted on debt after borrowing clampdown.

  • Big developers like Country Garden still teeter close to default, keeping home-buyer sentiment down.

  • As of August, there were enough unsold homes for 7.2 million units, per official data.

  • Add unfinished projects and vacant investment properties, and there are enough empty homes for 1.4 billion people, says former official.

  • His negative view contrasts official narrative that economy is resilient.

moneycontrol.com
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China's real estate crisis, caused by a crackdown on risky behavior by home builders and a subsequent housing slowdown, is spreading to the broader economy, leading to sinking sales, disappearing jobs, and a decline in consumer confidence, business investment, and stock markets.
China is facing a severe economic downturn, with record youth unemployment, a slumping housing market, stagnant spending, and deflation, which has led to a sense of despair and reluctance to spend among consumers and business owners, potentially fueling a dangerous cycle.
China's real estate market is experiencing a significant downturn, causing major developers to face massive losses and mounting debts, which is impacting the country's economy and global growth.
China's property market is seeing strong sales and rising rents, indicating a continuing demand for housing that pessimists are missing, according to veteran economist Hong Hao.
China's economic slump is worsening due to the prolonged property crisis, with missed payments on investment products by a major trust company and a fall in home prices adding to concerns.
China's largest private real estate developer, Country Garden, is in financial trouble, missing bond payments and posting a record loss, signaling further concerns about the country's property sector as housing prices and foreclosures continue to rise, while other economic indicators, such as industrial output and retail sales, fall short of expectations; these developments are raising concerns about the overall health of China's economy and its future growth prospects.
China's property crisis has left small businesses and workers owed hundreds of billions of dollars, with suppliers waiting on at least $390 billion in payments, as new projects dry up and financial troubles plague real estate developers like Country Garden.
China's economic troubles, including a real estate crisis, an aging population, and rising debt, resemble Japan's long-standing issues, leading some experts to predict a potential "lost decade" for China similar to Japan's economic stagnation in the 1990s, while Japan is showing signs of climbing out of its deflationary nightmare.
China's economy will struggle with low growth under 5% through 2024, leading to a "structural hard landing" due to tight monetary policy, disappointing economic reopening, and challenges in real estate and stock markets, according to TS Lombard strategists.
China's largest private property developer, Country Garden, has warned of default risks if its financial performance continues to deteriorate, following a record loss in the first half of the year. The company's net loss between January and June amounted to 48.9 billion yuan ($6.72 billion), compared to a net loss of 6.7 billion yuan in the second half of 2022 and a net profit of 612 million yuan in the first half of 2022. This comes as Chinese authorities are working to revive the troubled property market, which accounts for approximately a quarter of the country's economy.
China's largest property developer, Country Garden, is on the brink of defaulting on its massive debts, reinforcing the deep slump in China's real estate market and potentially impacting the country's financial sector and global markets.
The slowdown in China's property market continues despite government measures to revive the economy, with analysts warning that the sentiment among many Chinese is too weak for these moves to be effective.
China's economic growth has slowed but has not collapsed, and while there are concerns about financial risks and a potential property crisis, there are also bright spots such as the growth of the new energy and technology sectors that could boost the economy.
China's economy is expected to grow less than previously anticipated due to struggles in the property market, leading economists to predict further downgrades and posing risks to both the domestic and global economy.
China's real estate and construction sectors are struggling, leading to fears of economic stagnation as consumer spending declines and other areas of the economy are not growing fast enough to make up the difference.
China's weak real estate sector and troubled offshore bond market, coupled with its totalitarian government, make long-term investment unattractive and non-profitable, according to Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital.
China's recent policies to stabilize the property sector may not be enough to stimulate real economic growth, although they could generate demand, according to analysts.
China's government is downplaying its economic crisis by promoting positive narratives, while social media campaigns and state-run newspapers attack Western media outlets for biased reporting; however, reports suggest that the property sector downturn is causing significant ramifications, and growth projections for China have been downgraded by major banks.
China's property sector continues to struggle with deepening falls in new home prices, property investment, and sales in August, despite recent support measures, adding pressure to the country's economy.
Despite prevailing negativity regarding China's economy, alternative high-frequency data points, such as subway ridership and commodity prices, suggest that many parts of the economy are functioning well, although the real estate sector is still struggling.
China's housing crisis continues as thousands of building projects are halted or slowed, leading to defaults and restructuring, a loss of confidence in the market, and a decline in sales.
The outlook of U.S. companies on China's markets in the next five years has hit a record low due to factors such as political tensions, tariffs, slow Covid recovery, and issues in the real estate market; however, complete decoupling between the two economies is unlikely.
China's largest developer, Country Garden Holdings, is facing a major crisis as it struggles with a mountain of debt repayments, a slowing property market, and negative sentiment towards the sector following defaults by other Chinese peers; the company's focus on smaller cities has become a disadvantage as the housing market faces a potential decline.
China's population of 1.4 billion would not be enough to occupy the vast number of empty apartments in the country, according to a former official, highlighting the ongoing crisis in the property market.
China's property market is facing a crisis with an overwhelming amount of unsold homes, surpassing the number of people in the country, as the sector continues to slump since the default of China Evergrande group.
Chinese investors are rushing to sell their overseas properties, particularly in Southeast Asia, due to worsening financial conditions and the need for cash to solve domestic issues such as business failures and mortgage loan defaults. Uncertain economic conditions, low confidence in production and consumption, and tightening regulations on property developers in China have contributed to the struggle to offload these investments.
China's former deputy head of the statistics bureau estimates that there are up to 3 billion vacant homes in the country, highlighting the out-of-control property crisis that has caused a decline in tax revenue and a rise in unemployment.
China is facing a housing crisis with rows of empty homes, leaving the country with an estimated 65-80 million vacant units, indicating a long-term decline in housing demand and raising concerns about the nation's economic growth.
China's urbanization drive is slowing down, which is expected to further impact the struggling property sector that has been plagued by debt problems and declining consumer confidence. Managing the excess housing supply and diversifying the economy away from reliance on the property sector are crucial for a healthier Chinese economy.
China's real estate sector, including leading developer Country Garden, faces a risk of default as the industry's cash crunch worsens, which could have implications for the broader Chinese economy and global stakeholders.
China's flailing real estate sector may take up to 10 years to fix, according to economist Hong Hao, as the sector continues to suffer from a debt crisis and oversupply, while demand is in long-term decline. Beijing officials are grappling with the challenge of reducing reliance on real estate without harming the economy in the short term.
China's property crisis, characterized by an excess of empty homes, could take up to a decade to resolve, according to economist Hao Hong, with the country's urbanization process stagnating and the property sector's contribution to GDP declining.
China's economic outlook, particularly for the real estate sector, is expected to become clearer in the last three months of the year, with potential government support and loosening of restrictions to stabilize the housing market and allow the economy to recover fully by mid-2024. However, economists predict that real estate growth will remain weak and prices may fall gradually, as significant price declines could have adverse social consequences.
China's property market blowup, which has led to major developers struggling and low housing sales, may not necessarily result in a financial crisis due to the unique characteristics of China's housing market and Beijing's control over the financial system, but it is expected to cause significant damage to bank balance sheets and potentially lead to widespread financial turbulence if support is not provided to local governments and small lenders.
China's real estate sector, particularly Country Garden, is facing severe financial distress, indicating a significant downturn in the Chinese economy as a whole.
China's economic growth model, built on real estate speculation and debt, is starting to unravel as the property market collapses and other sectors show strain, leading to shrinking demand, unstable supply chains, and a more precarious global economic landscape.
China's real estate market is declining, debt deflation is a concern, its workforce is shrinking, and GDP growth is slowing, leading to warnings of "Japanisation" and prolonged economic malaise, worsened by President Xi Jinping's autocratic rule and economic imbalances far worse than Japan's in 1990.
China's troubled property market is unlikely to recover in the short term, as economic uncertainty and low buyer confidence continue to hamper demand, despite government stimulus measures; home prices fell for the third consecutive month in September, and property sales and investment have also seen double-digit declines.