THE FORECLOSURE and court docket public sale of 87 flats within the southern metropolis of Changsha final month underlines most of the issues with China’s property sector. The properties had been owned by one lady, flouting the controls that Changsha and different cities have on the variety of housing models city dwellers should buy. The truth that one individual was capable of purchase so many highlights the backroom dealings that happen incessantly. Prior to now, such speculative exercise helped drive up costs and make China’s large cities among the world’s most unaffordable. The state of affairs, which is underneath investigation, additionally exhibits how wealthy Chinese language typically have had few funding choices apart from residences. And even these investments now appear shoddy: many of the properties being auctioned in Changsha have gone unsold.
