Good piece in the Washington Post on the Chinese realty bubble. See: As China’s economy slows…
“As home prices have skyrocketed, many Chinese households have gone all in on real estate by pouring years of savings into buying as many homes as they can.
But as the country’s economy slows to its worst pace in years, China’s dependence on real estate for growth — it’s a bigger driver than even exports now — has put the government in a tough position.
Allow prices to continue rising and help the economy in the near-term, but the real estate bubble gets worse. Cool things off and the entire economy slackens too much…”
My understanding is, if I remember it correctly, in mainland China, government owns the land. Not sure what the legal term is, basically, all leasehold, none freehold. Langley, BC.