3 ms·
China's vacant homes are new builds. "Since the 1980s, China has built enough new housing to re-house the entire population but the construction boom has becom
by lozenge 2y ago
China's vacant homes are new builds.
"Since the 1980s, China has built enough new housing to re-house the entire population but the construction boom has become a self-sustaining, perpetual engine of construction for the sake of construction – supply with no demand. And there are not just miles of empty apartment blocks but entire “ghost cities” complete with office towers, hospitals, schools, futuristic airports, museums, universities, libraries, theaters, sports fields, and miles and miles of apartment towers and subdivisions of McMansions – but almost no people. (20) Twenty-one percent of China’s urban residents, the wealthy and middle classes, own two urban apartments, some own three or four – all bought for speculation, not to live in, not vacation homes. More than 22.4 percent of urban apartments and houses remained vacant in 2014. (21) By one estimate, more than 64 million surplus apartments had been built in China, enough to house almost half the population of the United States, yet millions more are under construction."
- hkmaxpro 2y agoSo China’s new vacant homes are similar to Japan’s vacant homes built in the 1980's and 90's, but 5 times the scale, adjusted for the population. BTW, you quoted the following article from 2015. The 64 million surplus apartments number is outdated. https://truthout.org/articles/china-s-communist-capitalist-ecological-apocalypse/ https://truthout.org/articles/china-s-communist-capitalist-e...
- xenadu02 2y agoA version of those huge stone coins found in some cultures. The "owner" of the coin is in name only, it can't really be moved. Value is stored via the knowledge of how many exist and who owns them. For China's ghost cities: Each empty apartment has a unique address and an owner so I guess that counts as a byzantine form of currency too. Maybe the BOC could print "empty apartment" bank notes where it maintains the empty apartment on your behalf but you can trade the note in for the deed to the apartment. What about stock shares.... eh let's not go there :)
- AndrewKemendo 2y agoThe yapese Rai stones - A big part of mariana culture That is a brilliant reference and I think good way to think about modern financial vehicles - namely that our species is still into necromancing our totems in order to give a dead object anthropomorphic spirits What silly creatures we are
- chii 2y agoIt's because all of this is just a way to physically represent trust. Having an object to direct the trust at, such that strangers can both agree is useful.
- Terr_ 2y agoI've heard the focus on owning properties is partly driven by how the Chinese government has placed limits on how much or how profitably Chinese citizens can invest in other options. (Deposits in a bank earning interest, stocks, etc.)