• Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    All that ghost housing the population have sunk their savings into is appreciating nicely, yes?

    Funny how everyone complains about US investors sitting on property makes housing unaffordable and also complains that surplus housing in China makes housing a bad investment.

    Everyone hates everything.

    • voracitude@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Are you trying to imply that everywhere is the same? Different places, different problems, different causes.

      Surplus housing was built in China because the population needed a safe investment for their savings. The stock market is too volatile, and investing overseas is tightly controlled, so housing has been the choice because it lasts.

      In the US, there’s a conflux of factors that’s led to a housing shortage, then the pandemic exacerbated that situation, and now spiking interest rates are making it unaffordable to move for the few who did manage to buy a home with their meagre resources. Then, of course, there’s institutional investment buying up single-family homes and driving up prices even more.

      The point is that China is not some perfect übermensch, even compared to the US, and anyone claiming otherwise needs to be corrected.