This is a nice case study in misleading with statistics. The measured prices of Chinese real estate is based on something called a 100 cities index (based on y

This is a nice case study in misleading with statistics. The measured prices of Chinese real estate is based on something called a 100 cities index (based on your linked article) which is presumably specific to Chinese urban real estate. It goes on to compare that to the median US prices (instead of the mean US prices) and compounds that error by comparing with different populations (top urban population centers in China vs all real estate in US). Finally, it compares the 100 cities index price/sq ft rate to median US income - comparing a mean to a median - in a population with a long tailed income distribution. RE speculation in China and the debt used to finance it are a big problem with serious contagion risks, and deserve a much higher quality discussion that that. edit: if someone were to want to analyze this honestly, compare that real estate sq. footage figure to its US counterpart, then compare to it to mean urban income in both countries. for extra credit, see if the degree of leverage is appropriate by looking at respective debt levels, growth of debt levels, and income growth.