Homebuyers pay price for China's property meltdown | DW News

Many in China have no other option than to move into unfinished homes. Yet, there are others who don't want to leave their old homes. A look at China's uncertain property market.

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[acefreak]

This legitimately sounds like a Ponzi scheme

[ryanrex]

Just wait 10 years and all the cut corners start to become obvious and those buildings are falling apart.

[IgorRyltsev]

Solution: Do not pay mortgage and let the bank have your unfinished apartment…

[erikperik]

This is so sad. Poor farmers investing for a brighter future

[michaelyun]

I think in most counties when purchasing a pre sale you don't pay for the whole place up front so no mortgage. Mostly is 15 to 20% of the unit spread over 3 to 5 years so you only pay a portion till completion where you actually do a walk through check the units and make sure everything is working.

You don't have pay till the place is fully build. Is to protect the buyer but I guess in China there are 0 buyer protection.

[jrivxxi]

Even if you paid for it, I wouldn’t live in it. Who know how much they did to cut costs, and how close these buildings are to actually collapsing. These poor people.

[rianz_d]

This problem occurs because now people think of the house as an investment not as a place to live. Rich people buy more houses for investment, making them scarce and causing house prices to continue to rise. The average person rushes to buy a house even though there is no certainty as in this case because only a few are available at affordable prices.

[JJ-gcdu]

Seeing skeleton high rises in multiple cities were a large part of the scenery when I visited in 1992. Back then the story was 'company ran out of money'. Nothing has improved, which is not only sad, but immoral.

[mbarker_lng]

Its wild...dystopian in some ways...seeing all these concrete skeleton-towers standing in row after row. Just imagine how much time, money, and materials would be used to finish out these existing buildings yet they continue to stand up more towers.

[basiladnan]

No, builders didnt use the money to start new projects, they used them to fatten up their own pockets . This is what happens when you have totaliterian system and when lucky oligharchies are not held accountable .

[captainhaddck]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that a giant Ponzi Scheme?

[hardtruth]

As a financial adviser, I strongly recommend my clients to avoid China and divest anything they have there. The worst is yet to come for their bubble.

[aaap]

I saw this potential in my many trips to China back in 2012, it was insane, people were making 800 USD a month and the average house was 1 million in Shenzhen, they were dilapidated messes new buildings would have elevators that broke after 2 months, tiles falling down, cracks in foundations...Rusting metal.

[vikingspud]

I put money down for my apartment in Shanghai in 2008 and got the keys in 2009. I guess I should consider myself lucky? I feel for those who have their whole net worth tied up in unfinished real estate.

[annehersey]

I truly hope that China changes the way people buy homes! In China, you see the model home, decided to buy there and start your mortgage immediately, often years before the building is finished! Most advanced countries, you don't start paying until you take possession of the property!

[joanvallve]

Cliffort Coonan is always giving great interviews about China on the DW. Thanks a lot for bringing him again.

[tomkopf]

That would suck not getting your house finished but only in China does it suck worse to get your house finished

[joshuajoseph]

The scary thing is, these apartments are built using substandard materials. They may collapse within the next few years. Poor souls.

[thePOWERofART-]

This situation exists because Xi's policy was designed to punish the Jiang faction property developers.

[dulio]

A shoe box in a pile of shoe boxes, some dream home. Common Prosperity at its finest.