China Policies fail to fix swollen property market

All across China, from Beijing in the north, to Shenzhen in the south, millions of newly built homes stand empty and unwanted.

- Amy Hawkins

There were nearly 391m sq metres of unsold residential property in China as of April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That is the size of Manchester and Birmingham combined - and then some.

This glut of idle property has caused a headache for the government, shaken the world's second-largest economy and raised tensions over the purpose of housebuilding in a nation where property investment had been viewed as a safe bet.

Since the real estate sector was sent into a tailspin in 2020, due to the pandemic and a sudden regulatory crackdown, the industry that traditionally powered about one-quarter of GDP has been in a downward spiral that policymakers have struggled to halt.

The crux of the problem is that, with shaky faith in the economy and big property developers failing to deliver on paid-for apartments, potential homebuyers are keeping their money out of the market.

In one recent Weibo post, a user wrote: "In this magical country, investment gambling. No matter what you invest in, whether it's buying a house or opening a small shop, if you lose money or go bankrupt, it has nothing to do with the country. It's all your own fault for wanting to gamble." The post has since been censored.