Mista
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Thanks for your valuable input. But it isn't just the lockdown that has dampened confidence. For the longest time real estate was considered the safest bet for investments by the average Chinese absent a mature well governed stock market. But that confidence has been shaken recently with unfinished "rotten tail" buildings and shrinking demand. home prices continue to fall for eleven straight months. An event without precedence in China. How does one recover that lost confidence? Lowering interest rates and relaxing down payments requirement has so far not had the desired effect. Will the CPC allow the real estate market to continue to slowly deflate making housing more affordable to the masses? But then who takes the hit? the lien holder? the builder? the home owner? Or, all of the above? Is it even realistic to allow so many institutions and individuals to loose so much of their investment? The NPL market is one option but it exposes the bank and the debtor to losses. Considering over 70% of Chinese household investment is tied into real estate is this strategy realistic? The magnitude of the loss is proportional to the rate of deflation of the real estate market but someone will take a hit
The lost of confidence in the short term is inevitable, but that's how you deflate a bubble right?
They have hundreds of cities so it's hard to generalize. Their first-tier cities will still hold strong while their third-tier cities and below will see downward price pressure. What they want is to keep the prices stable across the board without large rises or falls, and slowly wean off their dependence on the real estate as the rest of the economy grows. But it requires a lot of political will because of the vested interests of many parties are involved. The local governments derive large part of their revenue from land sales and they will push back. I read Chinese commentaries talking about implementing property tax to replace land sales revenue, but after so many years except for a few cities they are still unable to successfully implement a property tax.
In the longer term they need to think of building up a functioning stock market where investors can invest in the long term and not for speculation, and where capital can be allocated efficiently. But I don't think it's easy for them because of their political and legal system. If capital is allocated on the basis of efficiency, a large chunk of their SOEs will be eliminated. Access of information? Can reporters report the performance of SOEs in an unbias manner, or investors access to foreign news reporting on the companies they are investing? Rule of law and separation of powers? Court making their judgements without any favor or pressure from the authorities? Etc etc.