China Property Collapse Has Begun

Forbes ^ | April 13, 2014 | by Gordon B. Chang

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Nothing is going right for Hangzhou at this moment. Walmart will be closing its Zhaohui store in that city on April 23 as a part of its overall plan to dump marginal locations—about 9% of the total—in China.

Thanks to the world’s largest retailer, another large block of space in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, will go on the market at a time when there is generally too much supply. The problem is especially pronounced in the city’s premium office market. Hangzhou’s Grade A office buildings at the end of 2013 had, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, an average occupancy rate of 30%.

The real weakness, however, is Hangzhou’s residential sector. The cause is simple: massive overbuilding. Sara Hsu of the State University of New York at New Paltz writes that Hangzhou faces “burgeoning swaths of empty apartment units.”

[re_nortex]

Walmart will be closing its Zhaohui store.

I'm sure Zayre or maybe G.C. Murphy will fill the void.

[impactplayer]

This cannot be good - the king pin is about to fall.

[Chode]

and the ghost cities aren't even mentioned...

[elpadre]

suppose they will want to collect on the US notes they hold??

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Montgomery Wards wants the China locations ...

[goldstategop]

You know Communism is dead when China’s once red hot real estate market is headed for a crash.

[a fool in paradise]

Tim-berrrrrr!

[SpaceBar]

Former US cattle ranches a steal for chinese middle class suburbia.

[ladyjane]

The Chinese are buying up real estate in this country at a record rate. I know r.e. lawyers who say they handle closings where mainly Chinese is being spoken.

[headstamp 2]

Dammit, I told everybody not to lean on it!

[Secret Agent Man]

yeah i do not get the whole ghost cities thing. building just to build stuff they won’t let anyone use.

[McGavin999]

Isn’t that what happened with the Japanese right before their financial crash? Everyone was worried about them buying up American properties and then boom, they fell through the floor

[Chode]

the pictures of them are stunning and spooky as hell...

but apparently they aren't entered into the bubble equation, go figure

[Fresh Wind]

At least those buildings are far enough apart that they avoided the domino effect. Who says the Chinese don’t plan things well?

[dfwgator]

It’s going down, I’m yelling “TIMBER!”....

[SgtBob]

Maybe J. C. Penney’s will purchase it?

[Tenacious 1]

America should start buying property in China with the money we borrowed from them. Then, at least when they confiscate foreign owned property, we can call it settled debt at whatever price they say the real estate is worth.

[greeneyes]

Schadenfreude.

[Chode]

can't be any worse than their current business strategy... 8^)