The China Bubble

Ghost towns in China? Apparently so. Note this photo of Zhengzhou New District. The photo shows huge and numerous public buildings that have never been used (Click directly on the image to enlarge it):


From Dinocrat.com, via THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS:

Of the 35 major cities surveyed, property prices in eleven including Beijing and Shanghai were between 30 and 50 per cent above their market value, the China Daily said, citing the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Prices in Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern province of Fujian, had the worst property bubble with average house prices more than 70 per cent higher than their market value…

According to research carried out by Time magazine, fixed-asset investment in the Asian country accounted for more than 90 per cent of its overall growth — with residential and commercial real estate investment making up nearly a quarter of that. Regional governments across China have been building massive real estate projects, including Kangbashi in Inner Mongolia and Zhengzhou New District, which have remained empty…

Regional governments across China have been building massive real estate projects…Kangbashi, which was built in just five years, was meant to be the urban centre for Ordos City — a wealthy coal-mining hub home to 1.5 million people. It was filled with office towers, administrative centres, museums, theatres and sports facilities as well as thousands of homes, but remains virtually deserted.

Read the rest at Always On Watch.