Viewpoint

02.21.24

“When It All Comes down to It, China Has No Real ‘New Year’”

Li Chengpeng & Geremie R. Barmé
I’ve written all of this because friends urged me to offer some reflections on the year gone by and jot down a few thoughts for the upcoming year. But I didn’t want to waste my time looking up data points. Anyway, I don’t see that there was all that...

Conversation

02.16.24

It’s Grim out There: China’s Economy in the Year of the Dragon

Anne Stevenson-Yang, Zongyuan Zoe Liu & more
Some observers have been predicting an economic collapse in China for decades. Others have long predicted that China would be stuck in a middle-income trap or some other type of economic stagnation. Might some of these predictions come true this...

China to Fend off Bubble Risk with Tighter Property Rules

David Reid
CNBC
The authorities said they would stop funds being illegally funneled into property and that capital flow would be more forcibly balanced between real estate and other industries.

Chinese Property Boom Props up Xi’s Hopes for the Economy

Tom Hancock
Financial Times
Ocean Flower Island is a vision of luxury, Chinese-style. A man-made archipelago off the coast of the tropical island of Hainan in the South China Sea, it will boast thousands of apartments, 28 museums and 58 hotels including one which is “7-star...

China Steps up Battle Against Runaway Property Prices

Xinning Liu and Gabriel Wildau
Financial Times
Chinese banking regulators have told lenders to crack down on the use of consumer loans to finance home purchases, the latest effort to cool down the overheated property market and rein in financial risk.

Chinese Billionaire Battles Talk of Trouble at Real Estate Empire

CNN
Last week Dalian Wanda sold several theme parks and dozens of hotels for $9.3 billion, marking the end of Wang Jianlin’s dream to defeat Disney (DIS) in China. The billionaire said the deal would reduce his company’s debt burden. It followed several...

Books

06.13.17

Fortune Makers

Michael Useem, Harbir Singh, Liang Neng, Peter Cappelli
Fortune Makers analyzes and brings to light the distinctive practices of business leaders who are the future of the Chinese economy. These leaders oversee not the old state-owned enterprises, but private companies that have had to invent their way forward out of the wreckage of an economy in tatters following the Cultural Revolution.Outside of brand names such as Alibaba and Lenovo, little is known, even by the Chinese themselves, about the people present at the creation of these innovative businesses. Fortune Makers provides sharp insights into their unique styles—a distinctive blend of the entrepreneur, the street fighter, and practices developed by the Communist Party—and their distinctive ways of leading and managing their organizations that are unlike anything the West is familiar with.When Peter Drucker published Concept of the Corporation in 1946, he revealed what made large American corporations tick. Similarly, when Japanese companies emerged as a global force in the 1980s, insightful analysts explained the practices that brought Japan’s economy out of the ashes—and what managers elsewhere could learn to compete with them. Now, based on unprecedented access, Fortune Makers allows business leaders in the United States and the rest of the West to understand the essential character and style of Chinese corporate life and its dominant players, whose businesses are the foundation of the domestic Chinese market and are now making their mark globally. —PublicAffairs{chop}

China’s Economy Grows 6.9%, but Warning Signs Persist

New York Times
China’s economy, the world’s second-largest behind that of the United States, grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter, led by strong expansion at factories, Chinese officials said Monday.

China Plan to Create New Shenzhen Spurs Speculative Rampage

Lisa Pham and Jenny Yu
Bloomberg
Within 24 hours of Saturday’s announcement that the government would create the Xiongan area in Hebei province—in the same spirit that Shenzhen and Shanghai’s Pudong was built—hordes of prospective buyers had thronged to the region.

Kushner Family, China’s Anbang End Talks over Manhattan Real Estate Deal

Rob Schmitz
NPR
The family of President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, has called off talks with Chinese insurance company Anbang to redevelop a Manhattan office tower—a deal that raised ethical concerns.

China Property Sales Surge Despite Efforts to Cool Market

Voice of America
Property sales by area rose 25.1 percent year-on-year in January and February.

Kushners Set to Get $400 Million From Chinese Firm on Tower

Bloomberg
Family company of president’s son-in-law in deal with Anbang, one of China's largest insurance companies. Plan is circulating among investors for more equity partners.

Caixin Media

03.03.17

China’s Legislators Take on Zombie Companies, Real Estate

Curbing wasteful socialist-era business practices and taming unruly real estate and lending sectors will take center stage at the annual meeting of China’s legislature, which starts next week, with some also looking for signs of a pickup in economic...

Mega-Mansions in this L.A. Suburb Used to Sell to Chinese Buyers in Days. Now They’re Sitting Empty for Months

David Pierson
Los Angeles Times
At $9.8 million, the recently built property is a relative bargain. A similar-sized home in Beijing would cost twice as much. Yet two months after it was placed on the market, the house remains unsold. Not long ago, real estate like this would have...

China’s Response to THAAD Does Not Warrant South Korean Action: Minister

Christine Kim
Reuters
South Korea’s finance minister said on Thursday China had not taken any retaliatory measures over plans to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system that warranted official action, although South Korea is ready to lodge a formal complaint if needed.

China’s Economy Grows Strongly, Yet Central Bank Eases Policy

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
China’s economy firmly hit its growth target last year, but this is China, where figures are sometimes doubted and where economists look for signs of strain underneath the numbers.

China Overseas Investment Spree Set to Run Out of Steam

Lingling Wei
Wall Street Journal
A government think tank predicts China’s direct investment overseas, after years of robust gains, is likely to decline in 2017

Small Investors Join China’s Tycoons in Sending Money Abroad

Emily Feng and Alexandra Stevenson
New York Times
It's Chinese investors and a developer in Brooklyn- with a digital lending twist

$100 Billion Chinese-Made City Near Singapore ’Scares the Hell Out of Everybody’

Pooja Thakur Mahrotri and En Han Choong
Bloomberg
Planeloads of buyers fly in as condos rise from the sea

Fake Divorce is Path to Riches Buying Hot China Real Estate

Bloomberg
Rising property prices have been inspiring desperate measures, as frenzied buyers are seeking to act before further regulatory curbs are imposed

China’s Urbanites Embrace Sacrifice to Ride Property Frenzy

Yawen Chen and Ryan Woo
Reuters
There are signs mortgages are crimping household spending, in an economy increasingly reliant on domestic consumption

Caixin Media

10.12.16

Government Should Kick Land Sale Addiction to Cure Overheated Property Market

Chinese cities have rolled out new measures over the past week to cool a home-buying frenzy that has seen prices skyrocket, marking a new round of tightening since policies were eased two years ago. More than a dozen of China's largest cities,...

China Struggles to Curb Housing Bubble

Takumi Sasaki
Nikkei Asian Review
Even as Chinese authorities desperately try to cool down an overheated housing market, their efforts are unlikely to halt the rise of speculators greased by low borrowing costs

China Cities Move to Halt Housing Market Frenzy

Christian Shepherd
Financial Times
Speculators targeted as 15-month price surge persists

Caixin Media

08.09.16

China's New 'Bad Loan' Managers: Savvy Saviors or Riskier than Ever?

As China's economy slows and defaults rise, 'bad loan' managers say they spot an opportunity to pick up bargains, because lenders are eager to shed toxic debt that might otherwise poison the broader financial system. Yet questions...

Conversation

07.08.16

Why Is There So Much Talk of China’s Bleeding Money?

Arthur R. Kroeber & Thilo Hanemann
China has seen its foreign reserves depleted for months, but economists don’t agree about why: Is it because Chinese people are buying offshore assets, such as real estate? Because Chinese companies are paying down their foreign debt? Or both? Or is...

Real-Estate Lawsuits Surge in China

Esther Fung
Wall Street Journal
Undelivered homes drive some buyers to sue while developers seek refunds on land.

China’s Growing Appetite for African Real Estate

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Amid a prolonged economic downturn and a weakening yuan, Chinese investors have turned their focus to buying overseas assets. While there are a number of complicated reasons behind the massive capital outflows over the past 18 months, the fact...

Caixin Media

04.05.16

No Point in Ramping Up Personal Debt to Help Property Market

Having banks and local governments deleverage and trim overcapacity are part and parcel with central government efforts to maintain stable growth by nurturing the supply side of the economy. But even as this is happening, the housing market has been...

Price Falls Keep China's Property Developers Grounded

Ben Bland
Financial Times
Analysts fear the Goldin development, which is meant to be the heart of a new commercial district, is the wrong project at the wrong time.

A Growing Corner of China’s $2 Trillion Mortgage Market Looks a Lot Like the U.S. Subprime Bubble

Zheping Huang
Quartz
“If China allows high leverage in the housing market, it could lead to a financial disaster.”

China Desperately Needs Low-Income Migrant Workers to Buy Homes and Save the Economy

Simina Mistreaunu
Quartz
You can't ignore the lower-end demand because there is none at the higher end.

Caixin Media

09.22.15

Chinese Contractor Finds Project in Bahamas Is No Day at Beach

A giant luxury resort planned on a beach outside the Bahamas’ capital, Nassau, that is supposed to be a showpiece to help China’s largest construction company tap the U.S. market has become a headache for both its builder and a lender.The resort was...

Want a Green Card? Invest in Real Estate

Julie Satow
New York Times
Developers also take the search for investors in their projects on the road, primarily to China.

Wang Jianlin, a Billionaire at the Intersection of Business and Power in China -

Michael Forsythe
New York Times
Wang tends to present himself as the pragmatic face of big business in China.

China Raises Red Flag on Its Stock Markets

Chao Deng
Wall Street Journal
Regulator warns investors not to borrow money or sell property to buy shares. 

We Traveled Across China and Returned Terrified for the Economy

Timothy Coulter
Bloomberg
China’s steel and metals markets, a barometer of the world’s second-biggest economy, are “a lot worse than you think.”

Sinica Podcast

01.26.15

Inside the Property Revolution

Jeremy Goldkorn & Luigi Tomba from Sinica Podcast
Luigi Tomba, expert on municipal government in China, fellow at the Australian Centre on China and the World, and author of the book The Government Next Door: Neighborhood Politics in Urban China, is this week's Sinica Podcast guest. Since 2005...

China’s Housing Resists Efforts to Spur Market

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
Every urban real estate market is different in mainland China, driven by myriad municipal and provincial regulations and the varying strength of local economies. But the outcome is the same: The property market is under serious pressure.

San Gabriel Valley’s El Monte Getting a Boost from Chinese Investors

Frank Shyong
Los Angeles Times
Trucks loaded with construction materials park in front of a vacant lot in El Monte, where a homeless man slumbers on the sidewalk next to a mountain of rags and trash bags. Overhead, colorful flags whip in the breeze, advertising opportunities for...

Features

12.10.14

Why Beijing’s Troubles Could Get a Lot Worse

from Barron’s
Few foreigners know China as intimately as Anne Stevenson-Yang does. She has spent the bulk of her professional life there since first arriving in 1985, working as a journalist, magazine publisher, and software executive, with stints in between...

Why China May Avoid a U.S.-Style Property Crash

Esther Fung
Wall Street Journal
“China has clear signs of ‘froth,’ if not a bubble, in housing,” says Goldman Sachs. It looks reminiscent of the bubbles in Japan in the early 1990s and the U.S. from 2006 to 2010, it says—and finds China might turn out differently.

Waldorf Astoria NY hotel sold to China’s Anbang for $1.95bn

Anna Nicolaou
Financial Times
The sale allows the companies to “finally maximise the full value of this iconic asset on a full city block in midtown Manhattan,” said Christopher Nassetta, chief executive of Hilton Worldwide.

Sinica Podcast

08.29.14

Ghost Cities to Luxury Malls

Jeremy Goldkorn from Sinica Podcast
Remember the good old days when people didn't talk obsessively about real estate and housing prices, and dinner parties would feature conversations about art? Well, so do we, but with those days long gone we're delighted to host two...

Infographics

08.19.14

Landed

Chinese are the largest foreign buyers of U.S. real estate, spending around $22 billion in total in from April 2013 to March 2014, about a quarter of the United States’ total sales to foreigners, according to a July 8 report by the National...

Caixin Media

08.05.14

Top One Percent Has One-Third of China’s Wealth

A recent academic report on wealth inequality in China shows that the top one percent of households holds one-third of total assets, while the bottom fourth holds only one percent.The report, published by a research institute in Peking University,...

Books

07.31.14

Leftover Women

Leta Hong Fincher
A century ago, Chinese feminists fighting for the emancipation of women helped spark the Republican Revolution, which overthrew the Qing empire. After China's Communist revolution of 1949, Chairman Mao famously proclaimed that "women hold up half the sky." In the early years of the People's Republic, the Communist Party sought to transform gender relations with expansive initiatives such as assigning urban women jobs in the planned economy. Yet those gains are now being eroded in China's post-socialist era. Contrary to many claims made in the mainstream media, women in China have experienced a dramatic rollback of many rights and gains relative to men.Leftover Women debunks the popular myth that women have fared well as a result of post-socialist China's economic reforms and breakneck growth. Laying out the structural discrimination against women in China will speak to broader problems with China's economy, politics, and development.—Zed Books {chop}

Does Multimillion Dollar Chinese Investment Signal Detroit’s Rebirth?

Jonathan Kaiman
Guardian
With a weak US dollar, strong yuan and China’s own real estate market cooling after years of explosive growth, Detroit is an attractive—but high-risk—option for Chinese property developers.

China’s Real Estate Downturn Spells Trouble for Global Economy

Chengcheng Jiang
Time
The world's largest trading nation's economic growth remains heavily dependent on property, meaning a sharp downturn in that sector would be felt across Asia and beyond.

The Chinese Take Manhattan: Replace Russians as Top Apartment Buyers

Michelle Conlin and Maggie Lu Yueyang
Reuters
Many Chinese buyers are switching their interest away from markets like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore amid fears that prices have soared to frothy levels in those cities.

Caixin Media

03.18.14

How Xinjiang Real Estate Takes Its Shape

Police nabbed property developer Zhao Xingru and detained her for more than thirty days in late 2012 and early 2013 based on fraud allegations filed by executives at one of the country's largest developers, Hangzhou-based Greentown China Group...

China Pouring Billions into London Real Estate

Zhang Chunyan
China Daily
Chinese investment in London real-estate has risen 1,500 percent since 2010.

China’s Party Platter of Overhauls

Alex Frangos
Wall Street Journal
There is hope that the Third Plenum, an important meeting in the life cycle of each five-year Party Congress, could bring real change in the spheres of real estate, banking, state-owned enterprises and currency. 

In China There’s Not One City Without Stretches of Empty Houses

Anne Stevenson-Yang
Forbes
It is impossible to know with certainty when the property bubble will burst, but burst it will, and anyone visiting China five years from now will be lucky to find prices at 60% of the current values.  

Oakland Waterfront Project Jump-Started By Chinese Investor

Matthew Artz
Inside Bay Area
In a surprising and possibly landmark deal for Bay Area development, a Chinese firm is reviving a $1.5 billion waterfront real estate project. The deal continues a wave of institutional money flooding Oakland’s real estate market. 

China Vanke Expanding To U.S. After Customer Emigration

Belinda Cao
Bloomberg
Chinese developers are starting to take advantage of demand for real estate around the world from Chinese nationals as the government imposes property curbs at home.  

Two China Cities Move To Cool Overheated Housing Market

David Barboza
New York Times
In Shanghai and Beijing, stricter laws governing residence status and residence-related taxes in order to offset a real estate bubble that could seriously damage the economy and exacerbate social tensions between the rich and the poor.&...

China Tries To Pop Real Estate Bubble

Mark Gongloff
Huffington Post
China has been trying to slow its runaway growth and morph itself from an export-driven economy to one more like America, with no evidence of success. 

Conversation

03.08.13

Will China’s Property Market Crash, and So What If It Does?

Dorinda Elliott & Bill Bishop
Dorinda Elliott:At this week’s National People’s Congress, outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao proclaimed that the government kept housing prices from rising too fast. Really? I wonder what my 28-year-old Shanghainese friend Robert thinks about that. He and...

Zhang Xin: China’s Real Estate Mogul

Shachar Bar-On
CBS News
Cultural Revolution child Zhang Xin talks with Leslie Stahl about her transformation from sweatshop worker to self-made billionaire.