50 Million Empty Homes In China, Third-Home Purchases Soar

Home-buying speculation is rampant in China. Over a fifth of China’s homes are empty. That’s 50 Million Empty Apartments.

Soon-to-be-published research will show roughly 22 percent of China’s urban housing stock is unoccupied, according to Professor Gan Li, who runs the main nationwide study. That adds up to more than 50 million empty homes, he said.

The nightmare scenario for policy makers is that owners of unoccupied dwellings rush to sell if cracks start appearing in the property market, causing prices to spiral. The latest data, from a survey in 2017, also suggests Beijing’s efforts to curb property speculation -- considered by leaders a key threat to financial and social stability -- are coming up short.

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Pure Speculation

An amazing 69% of recent home purchases have been second or third homes.

A housing bust is coming and it will hit China hard.