December 27, 2009

Phoenix? Vegas? Dubai? Detroit? No, this ghost-town of empty skyscrapers is where you'd least expect. It's China



Remember when we thought Japan would take over the world?

Me gettin' some serious deja-vu all over again.

Anyone want to buy some land or investment condos in China?



26 comments:

casey said...

Looks like a great buying opportunity to me.The chinese are going to take over the world.The time to buy is now.Anyone doing stated income loans over there?I need to flip a couple properties so I can pay the bills around here.

Anonymous said...

China is in miserable shape. I love the idiots that think China will lead us out of this clusterf#@k of a hole we're in.

Oh, and sovereign debt explosion is the new subprime for 2010.

Yeeeeehawwww, it's good to be alive!

extranjero said...

This phenomena is world wide. We visited Chile in October and saw a billion dollar coastal resort that was completely empty. We stayed in a condo in a 14-story building, and other than the security guard at the front desk, we were the only people living there. It was surreal to see the maintenance people going about their jobs as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

Wat too much money was invested in commercial real estate, and it will be decades before any of the owners see returns on those malinvestments

Bukko Boomeranger said...

I'm not surprised, because I've been reading about things like "the ghost mall" (instead of "the Great Wall") of China for more than a year now. Just because they're communist (actually fascist) autocrats doesn't mean the Chinese economic planners are any smarter than the democratic (actually fascist) mandarins who rule the U.S.

Anonymous said...

Hell no, I would never bye in China. Everyone knows their language sucks and it is too difficult for the world to catch on! They will never be a super power because of this very reason!

Randy said...

Keefer said:
This Ghost town of empty skyscrapers is where you’d least expect it.
It’s China..

It’s been very expected..

Common sense

I guess you’re not expecting the coming crash in Oil and Gold

Yet..

Again; common sense..

EisnerHut said...

You're not taking this whole thing seriously are you?
If it has to do with dollar bills , FRN's , open endorsed credit of the FED , or just about any other currency then you are out of line if you stick your nose into the business of others.
It's their money , not yours , never has been , and if you continue to purchase worthless shit with it then that shit is also "theirs". It's their game baby , quit crying about it.

Anonymous said...

Wait.

Isn’t all Bushes fault?

long beach, ca said...

name of the game is to live within your means and not get greedy.

Banana Republicrat said...

Just like Joe 6 Pack, China will be desperate and armed to the teeth!

Afterthought said...

Excellent find.

Krugman and Stiglitz predict a contracture in the second half of 2010, just in time to pin the tail on the donkeys.

danm said...

Can't believe you're back!

I missed your input!

Angry Leprechuan said...

A friend of Mish who lives in China part time was discussing this at least a year ago.

evildoc said...

Why would I 'least expect it"?

regards

evil

danm said...

We visited Chile in October and saw a billion dollar coastal resort that was completely empty. We stayed in a condo in a 14-story building, and other than the security guard at the front desk, we were the only people living there.
---------
I guess when you've got zirp everyone accepts not receiving any rental income dreaming of capital gains. LOL!

casey said...

FXP looks good to me.

NihilistZerO said...

RE:Randy

Agree about Oil and Gold. As an investor how will you make money on Gold after the psychology flips? At least silver is used in quite a lot of production but Gold is not.

At some point that money will flee safety to investments that pay real returns (individual businesses, stocks, etc) and the less seasoned investors will eat losses.

As for oil the cartel can only affect the market so much. People will pay what they can afford until they have to cut back. We just went through this in oil and here we go again. Once 2010 data starts looking less than rosy oil wil pull back.

Anonymous said...

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I’ve been doing my part.

Anonymous said...

I find it hard to feel sorry or panic for the Chinese... sorry
-JDF

Lost Cause said...

I thought that the main worry about China was all the young males coming of age with no females due to the one child policy.

Anonymous said...

Keith,
It's time for you to stop China Bashing. You probably don't know the tenacity of Chinese people. They have gone through much greater difficulties in their History. This is only a very small blip. Nothing great.

yoski said...

Well Keith, this ain't exatly news but yes, there's a huge real estate bubble brewing in China. But why learn from history (Japan 90s and US 2000s) when you can experience it first hand?
China has a bunch of other problems:
1. 112 male birth per 100 female birth
2. lack of natural resources
3. too many people in relation to potential food production
4. environmental disasters
5. lack of innovation and independent thinking
They won't rule the world, but they might become desperate and dangerous.

Anonymous said...

All those empty buildings represent money spent at Walmart being wasted. China does have massive problems like overpopulation being number 1 on the list.

If their economy really tanks, you could end up with a North Korea writ enormous with famine. A desperate severely overpopulated nation with a stash of nukes is a clear danger.

We should never have traded with them in the first place. But alas, the siren song of labor cheaper than even robots was irresistible to American greed-o-holic CEOs.

Bukko Boomeranger said...


Here's an article from the Canadian press that illustrates the China housing bubble you're talking about.
Apartments are getting so expensive there because of the flippers that people can't afford them, so the flats stay empty. They're easier to on-sell if they're virgin fresh inside, I suppose. It's like the U.S., only on cheap Asian counterfeit steroids.

Money quote "Last fall, as diving export numbers led to factory closings and mass layoffs, Beijing ordered banks to intervene by massively increasing lending. Loans for real-estate developments jumped 121 per cent in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2008, while the amount of land under development rose 15.8 per cent. The total area being developed forms a construction site larger than New York."

You'd like the Canadian press, Keith. It's mostly owned by free-trading, anti-union, conservative corporations with a predilection to bashing China.

JAWS said...

When that bubble bursts, it could be real ugly. Although, their government can create any illusion they want - better than ours.

Anonymous said...

The people who keep talking up China remind me of the NAR and its allies talking up real estate 3 years ago

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