Inside a Chinese Ghost Town of Abandoned Mansions | WSJ

China’s property crisis is expected to get worse as sales of new homes plummet and indebted developers struggle to find funds to complete projects. Real estate giant Evergrande was recently forced to liquidate as more than 50 housing developers have defaulted on their debts in recent years.
WSJ’s Jonathan Cheng travels to an abandoned “ghost town” in Shenyang City built by the Greenland Group to explain how China’s real-estate slump has become a headache for the government.
Chapters:
0:00 Empty homes in China
0:30 The Greenland Group
1:19 Inside an abandoned showroom
2:43 Inside a home
3:33 China Evergrande Group
4:28 What’s next?
News Explainers
Some days the high-speed news cycle can bring more questions than answers. WSJ’s news explainers break down the day's biggest stories into bite-size pieces to help you make sense of the news.
#China #RealEstate #WSJ

[@temper44]

Property troubles alone, this site would be incredible for shooting apocalypse or future sci fi movies in.

[@Kavkazv]

my first thought when they walked into the first building

[@havoc7343]

It would be dangerous to even risk shooting a film on an unfinished building.

[@SAGAWISIW30]

Money owned by foreign investors😂🤑 if that chinese money 3:23 they wont do that🤑🤑 international bond🤑 wall street😵‍💫

[@SAGAWISIW30]

Evergrande was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory,

[@gloriouslumi]

No insurance company would ever cover you

[@Johnrl21]

So crazy to think that people who would want mansions like this would also want a bunch of others super close to them like that.

[@mjjjuly]

Most likely bought for investment purposes.

[@Citizen-of-theworld]

Not really when you consider the huge identical townhouses in London or Paris. It is a bit weird though when you consider these are not prime real estate locations, although there was once a time when Kensington was a new development just outside London.

[@matthewmiller6568]

​@@darthvadeth6290tankies be like:

[@IronTomahawk-sf6bo]

Those mansions are for the higher middle class and not for the rich.

[@darthvadeth6290]

@@matthewmiller6568 ad hominem 😂

[@matthewsaunders4820]

If I remember right from 60minutes, those 20 million people who pre-purchased an unfinished home totals $1 trillion lost

[@elonwhatever]

It's cute that you believe the CCP allows those people to stop payments on their mortgages.

[@DW-op7ly]

Their people have added 5 trillion to their savings these last 2 years

[@contris1]

yikes

[@fckytbAds]

@@DW-op7ly no they dont. 🤣

[@DW-op7ly]

Even though China has invested trillions in their belt and road partner countries China exports are up 7.1% In 2024 And it still has a 820 billion plus dollar a year trade surplus with the world the last 2 years Even though their Central Government is cracking down in real estate speculation Slowing down the economy? The Chinese people have added 2.6 trillion to their savings in 2022 And 1.8 trillion to their savings for first 10 months of 2023 👇 Chinese Consumers Are Saving Rather Than Spending Amid Economic Downturn Dec 21, 2023 - Chinese households have added 13.8 trillion yuan ($1.89 trillion) The middle class is also prioritizing savings and seeking safe investment opportunities, according to the report. Chinese households have added 13.8 trillion yuan ($1.89 trillion) in savings in the first 10 months of the year, an 8.5% increase from the previous year. Pymnts

[@VerycoolEsso]

Never pre-order games, never pre-order houses

[@pigkeeper_F]

It's been a tradition to pre-order houses in China, anyway it doesn't work now

[@zupergut3015]

Never order games and never order houses, just grab em😂

[@GadzonkaZonka]

Never pre-order anything because the odds are that you will not get it or your money back.

[@dreams2reality410]

Nothing like having a mansion opening your window and giving your neighbor a high five.

[@sergeant64]

This should be used for vertical farming. Mud-Grab and herbs (in warm part of China), Not sure what can be done in the cold part of china.

[@007stopjockin]

Very convenient for borrowing a cup of sugar, or in this case perhaps a cup of rice LOL 007

[@martincatoniryan1638]

@@sergeant64 that seems like a good idea.

[@MD-gt6xw]

*knocks on neighbors upstairs window from your 4th floor balcony* Excuse me but would you have any Grey Poupon?

[@3506Dodge]

Much better to live in a rusting trailer on 50 acres of land in Arkansas.

[@mrxiong2567]

What a waste of resource of materials and labor.

[@rakesh12321]

Life is unfair

[@jim-ce5kt]

WHAT IS FAIR????? I would like to know.

[@China_love_Palestine]

yes

[@Bk6346]

Actually it is good lesson for the Chinese although expensive. They will learn from this.

[@winkus8586]

Better than millions of homeless as a result of the super efficiency

[@biznatchHo]

I was in Shenyang last week and they said a lot of the developers build on the land without getting the permit first and then later had to abandon the project due to the land not being safe to build on

[@shion-7777]

Timestamped Highlights 00:20 🏰 A ghost town of abandoned mansions in Shenyang City, China 01:35 🏢 Greenland Group's unfinished housing project 02:55 🏛 The vision and showroom of Grandeur Place 04:10 📉 China's property market crisis and developer defaults 05:30 🏘 China Evergrande's collapse and unfinished homes 07:05 📉 Decline in property sales and lack of confidence in real estate investment 08:25 🏢 Challenges faced by China's Government in the property market crisis Summarized by @NoteGPT

[@JustAnotherDayToday]

Weird-really weird to see rows of mega mansions like suburban bungalows.

[@theflanman420420]

They are made from literal cardboard they will fall apart within a year

[@parkerbohnn]

@@theflanman420420 All of them are still using kitec plumbing so the whole plumbing system would fall apart within a couple of years if the plumbing was ever used.

[@alquinn8576]

@@theflanman420420 well it looks like concrete, but in some of the shots, you can see it is low quality and cracking

[@jeffj2495]

agree, it really is just plain weird to see a huge set of properties left at 90% completion. What a waste.

[@DW-op7ly]

Even though there are between 20 and 45 million unoccupied homes across China, which account for roughly 600 million square meters of uninhabited floor space - enough to completely cover Madrid, these places are not the urban wastelands they are often posited to be. While many of China’s new cities and urban districts are deficient in people they are not deficient in owners. Nearly every apartment that goes on the market in China is quickly purchased, often at exorbitant prices that commonly range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Far from being unwanted infrastructure that could seamlessly be doled out to refugees, those arrays of vacant high-rises are actually the proud possessions of people who paid a lot of money for them. So why would anyone spend incredible amounts of cash on houses they do not intent to use? * A huge portion of the homes that are purchased in China function very much like stocks or a trade-able commodity. As an incredible amount of new apartments are sold as unfinished concrete cavities without any interior fit out or even windows, they are in no way immediately livable. Although they are very actively bought and sold in this bare-bones form, which is often preferred by investors. In many ways they are purely economic entities, quantifiable placeholders of value that are traded on the open market akin to precious metals. Just as one doesn’t need to mold a piece of gold into something usable like a piece of jewelry for it to have value and an economic function, an apartment in China doesn’t need to have people living in it for it to be economically viable. “Empty units leave flexibility for quick sales in a changing market or need to cash in quickly,” said Barry Wilson, the founding director of Barry Wilson Project Initiatives, a Hong Kong based urban design firm. Another reason for the sheer amount of unused apartments in China is the fact that there is often little financial incentive for owners to do anything with them after purchase. There is no yearly property tax in China, so vacant properties are not a financial drain on their owners. While the potential returns that could be had from renting them out (1% or so) is often not worth the hassle - especially because it costs tens of thousands of dollars to construct the interiors of new apartments in preparation for tenants. This is combined with the fact that Chinese homeowners, especially investors who have multiple properties, are remarkably un-leveraged. According to Mark Tanner, over 80% of homes in China are owned outright. This means that most homeowners, especially the big investors with multiple properties, generally don’t have any mortgages to pay off or any other leans, so there isn’t as much financial pressure to make a profit from these homes in the short term. Thevagabondjourney

[@badluck5647]

What kind of rich person wants an identical mansion?

[@rgen28]

CCP does

[@buttofthejoke]

Communist millionaires.

[@cesaru3619]

One with SOCIALIST values, LOL

[@mbg9650]

Greater fool strategy.

[@coleball6001]

Probably newly rich who care more for prestige and status than taste or the lower upper class who are still gonna be cost-conscious for their mansions.

[@bradskis81]

OMG this explains it all! I travel into a few big cities in china for work quite often. Going from the airports into the cities, I have seen so many half built, but appearing to be abandoned housing complexes that never seemed to make any progress or have people working on them. It’s those exact apartment towers in the video and they’re all like that.

[@user-fv5yo5fi5c]

Man those are beautiful shells of mansions. It's a shame they never completed the project.

[@Papapeachez]

I lived in Beijing in 2010 and we would go and play in an enormous abandoned building next to ikea, it was magical. Great acoustics.

[@deeohen8344]

I'd be careful. Half the INHABITED buildings in China were built with duct tape, tooth picks and super glue. I'd be downright petrified how bad one of the ABANDONED variety were constructed.

[@Super_Mario_Esq]

You failed to mention the most important thing: Those who bought the house have already taken out the entire mortgage and paid it to the developer in the beginning of the project. Now even when the developer bankrupted, they still have to pay what the owe to the bank. That is, they will continue paying their debt for 20, 30 years without the hope of having a livable house. If they stop paying the mortgage, according to China's law on "social credit", they are banned from many things, including buying airplane tickets or high-speed rail tickets. ========= The 2nd part to this story: So, for those who can't afford a mortgage and a rent at the same time, there have been numerous reports that some of them choose to move in to the newly bought, unfinished apartment unit in a skyscraper, without elevator, electricity, water, some don't even have windows, and live there for years.

[@stant7122]

Not to mention they would also need to pay for where they are currently staying. A double payment must be really tough.

[@asphyxiafeeling]

That is INSANE!

[@samanthajones4877]

What is the difference between social credit in China and credit score here in the US?

[@Gravityper]

@@samanthajones4877 Even if you have a poor credit score in the US you can travel to other countries, but train tickets, and not be checked on by your local government. If you have a poor social credit score in China they often bar your children from going to good schools, they limit your travel, and they take a keen interest in monitoring your messages and web searches.

[@NicolaCaldo]

@@samanthajones4877 Social Credit is controlled by the Government that could virtually block you to do anything but work to repair your debit

[@RmnGnzlz]

But why would you buy a house before its constructed? Here in México there's people you hire to check for structural problems from the foundation to the ceiling, including everything in between like the water pipes and electrical wires when buying a house. Buying a house before being able to see it is bananas.

[@merchantfan]

In China it's standard practice and since the government doesn't let journalists publish too much on the housing market crisis and even punishes people who protest after losing their money it's hard for things to change

[@estebancorral5151]

You forget there is fraud because of no sewage hook up. Where in Mexico have you bought your house?

[@estebancorral5151]

@@merchantfanThat shows stupidity and greed go hand in hand.

[@merchantfan]

@@estebancorral5151 Well consumers only have so much power compared to the government especially in a "communist" country (though really the communism just seems to be a justification for totalitarianism)

[@techtrek31]

This is very common in the US and the rest of the world for new construction. Developers buy land and 'sell' the houses to people who get to then select custom details they want. There are periodic inspections by both the mortgage company and the local government to check on the items you mention like plumbing and electrical being up to code. I'm not saying it's an ideal practice, but it is by no means unusual.

[@rogervossen3883]

Great that you disclose this! Flabbergasting how this is possible!

[@vsstdtbs3705]

In the old days they had eunuchs to do all the chores cheaply. There is a huge amount of maintenance for these places, and even with the minimum wage, costs are too much.

[@futuramanut]

I'm still surprised it is/was considered normal to pay mortgage on unfinished housing in China

[@___beyondhorizon4664]

During the peak, there were more demands than supplies. In Chinese society, men are not able to find a willing wife unless he has invested in buying a home. No house, no marriage 😅

[@ssuwandi3240]

The Chinese would think the same on the US reverse repo..

[@lijenhsin421]

Zero protection for customers....

[@sidg11]

this is pretty standard outside of us/ in the developing world

[@CharlieTangoLaw]

I think it's kinda pre-sell offerings which gives you discounts.

[@grcigar9911]

Wish there were interviews…residents, developers, politicians…to go along with the reporting.

[@patrickkruidenberg2581]

Agreed but do you really expect Chinese politicians and developers to give an their honest comments/opinions on these projects? 😂

[@martincatoniryan1638]

I feel like they would get a script from the CCP , one that they have to adhere to firmly or they wouldn't be allowed to give the interview and if they aren't allowed to give the interview and they still give the interview they would be persecuted, enslaved, raped, etc... they and their families... although , I dunno, never been in China ...

[@MsDebbie0611]

不可能的，接受外媒訪問講中國缺點是不被允許的，他們有言論審查，只能講「中國好的故事」

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

​@@patrickkruidenberg2581 atleast Chinese build . In USA our building are made of cardboard

[@prime8krish]

Then you will never see the reporter again.

[@Mehwhatevr]

Great coverage.

[@jadeemme3697]

this is so sad... But man, I'm also so impressed by the architecture and construction itself! Those mansions would have been beautiful (i say this as I can't even afford one lol)

[@aragorn4242]

not so impressive next to 50 other identical mansions near you though.

[@v.m.8472]

This is a terrifying example of ruined land.

[@chrisleaf]

This land was better before humans discovered it, the whole earth was really.

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

No it isn't

[@JulyIzHere]

@@chrisleaf you mean beore WHITE people discovered it? because land was THRIVING in the continent of America and africa before colonization so idk what you're talking about.

[@user-ug4yr8er9g]

По своей стране другие несудят😂

[@nivlem416]

The forest destroyed for this abandoned houses

[@mimisheean3411]

When I lived in SHanghai I saw abandoned developments like this one, as well as dozens of empty apartment towers. Very creepy.

[@RR-lh1qs]

nice

[@ollllj]

pre-ordering is insane.

[@svcyclops]

Great reporting

[@benjamindover4337]

The all concrete construction makes me think this is just "make work" to keep people employed. I don't believe there was ever any real expectation that anyone would live in this place. Theres no transportation infrastrucutre, no electrical or plumbing, no yards, no commercial space. Its like a CGI backdrop from a movie.

[@mjjjuly]

Concrete use for housing is not uncommon in Asia though.

[@bricktown3156]

@@mjjjuly I mean, for most of the world, concrete is an extremely common building material. It's just in the US and Canada that they prefer using lumber and only use concrete for skyscrapers

[@iandavidvillaloboswong5180]

Electrical grid could be underground and in concrete houses (that are the most popular in the world) the plumbing and wires are all inside the walls and floor. You can only see the wires in the holes meant for lamps or switches. Dont know how it is in wooden houses.

[@EugWanker]

Uh wut? Concrete construction is the norm all over Asia and even parts of Europe.

[@brahmburgers]

Beijing bosses did expect all the units to be snatched up. They're plans have gone horribly wrong.

[@illmatic19]

In my country we don't have enough supply. In China they built double what they needed. What a crazy world.

[@larrys4618]

China doesn't have NIMBY karens

[@lilacghoste8366]

​@@larrys4618honestly one of pros of communism or communist leader

[@ahmedzakikhan7639]

Cause in China Goverment builds houses. In US private business build and zoning laws are controlled by home owners in the neighborhood/small municipalties - which restrict housing supply.

[@AL-lh2ht]

@@lilacghoste8366 yea chinese is hyper capalist. not remotely communist.

[@sarkaranish]

@@larrys4618 they also dont have many rights at all in the eyes of the government, which is why they built trains going through apartment buildings, and why most of building liveleak videos are of Chinese origin lol.

[@SimonCU]

but in major cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai etc property prices are still unaffordable.

[@victorcretu7741]

Interesting. I'm Romanian, I lived under Communism for about 19 years, before it fell. We used to build flats after flats, but they were cheap and assigned to people once finished. Basically, everyone with a job at a factory was given a 1-2 or 3 (if you had children) bedroom apartment nearby to live in. The rent was very modest like 1/10 of the monthly income and retained directly by the factory from your salary. I was given a 1-bedroom condo at 19 when I got my job as a worker with a car manufacturer (Dacia). The university was also free. I studied for free for 6 years, every evening (4 hours, 6 days - the work week in Communism had 6 days) at the local university. Years later, I immigrated to Canada. I was stunned to find out from some of my Chinese co-workers that in China university was not free and people were not assigned condos. What Communism was that? It looks like everyone implemented Communism their own way.

[@user-xe9pi7sx4b]

共产党给个你免费上大学，房子，但是你还仇恨它😂

[@spider6660]

That's called capitalism

[@rap3208]

It probably has to do with the size of the population. Your romanian population will be just like a one city in China. education is free in China up to grade 12.

[@GadzonkaZonka]

The US did that too. We called it slavery.

[@DeciduousNature]

This is an amazing video and I'm floored it was able to be filmed!

[@Vlican]

The journalist is probably banned from China now.

[@chakky533]

seriously tho, im astounded the PRC has been willing to let videos like these keep being made

[@alec6521]

I sincerely doubt they knew he was filming. He never would have been allowed if they'd known. @@chakky533

[@thumperjdm]

When Xi sees this video, heads are gonna roll. China always tries to hide its flaws from the rest of the world.

[@user-xe9pi7sx4b]

​@@chakky533你以为全世界像美国一样，没有拍摄自由吗？

[@henryzhang9915]

Great documentary, short but very saddening.

[@blightedgrounds]

Such an awfully grim design. Those mansions are built right on top of each other. No personality, no yard, no garden, no space, no fence, no privacy.

[@amalakeson1335]

Just a moneymaking venture, they didn’t intend people to live there!

[@haroldb1856]

Socialism!

[@mikeb.1978]

Same as Beverly Hills stop it

[@themonsterunderyourbed9408]

That's communist luxury for you.

[@dreamsthatgotogether7553]

Other than the French style which I don’t think would be popular, it looks like a typical “upscale” modern housing community in pretty much any modern country where a lot of people would love to be able to live (in a finished state of course)

[@machone539]

The bottomline in all real estate is "location, location, location." Who wants a 200 room 15 bath mansion in a middle of the boonies?

[@___beyondhorizon4664]

The newly rich.

[@resiliencewithin]

Me

[@backtoasimplelife]

We have them here in rural PA. Not everyone are city folks. You couldn't pay me to live in a city. What about all the Southern plantation mansions?

[@agates9383]

@@___beyondhorizon4664 Which is essentially ALL of chinese rich - there were none prior to Deng.

[@Unknown2Yoo]

​@@backtoasimplelife Exactly, I live in the south and all the super nice mansions and renovated plantation homes are out in the boonies on large properties. The relatively smaller mansions that are in the city are typically the ones left over from when the cities were just small towns, so the richer people had no problem building there. They typically have a bunch of regular sized family homes surrounding them that are the new additions from urban sprawl.

[@tchernovsky]

One important point about these ghost mansions that the video does not mention is the fact that 1) these mansions were built more than a decade ago, not recently and 2) they were built in or near Shenyang, the largest city in China's Northeast/Manchuria. This region is basically China's rust belt, a once prosperous industrial powerhouse that never quite found its footing in the new global economy of finance, internet, and computer chips. The province of Liaoning, whose capital was Shenyang, was also notorious for fabricating economic data such as GDP to appease national leaders demanding growth; in fact, the late Li Keqiang, who served as Liaoning's provincial party secretary in the 2000s and was premier under Xi from 2013 to last year, once told the US ambassador that he never read the GDP figures and instead relied on other economic indicators such as electricity usage. This is not to say that China's property crisis is confined to struggling regions such as Manchuria; I am saying that there has always been immense regional variations and imbalances in the Chinese economy that are often glossed over when we focus on national aggregates. The same, of course, holds for the US economy and elsewhere.

[@ysp1784]

America has its own set of problems but this kind of waste does not exist in the US.

[@colleenpeck6347]

The US has city and state regulation codes for approving the location if a house. This would NEVER even be a thought of a builder.

[@yeminoo9341]

The presenter did mention it was built decade ago

[@sliceofheaven3026]

In the program it was also said that there are 20 million pre bought incomplete houses like this in China. Were all of those built in one region of China under one particular person?

[@tchernovsky]

Certainly, but my point is really about regional imbalance that exacerbates structural weaknesses in the economy (often due to regulatory oversight), not housing bubble per se. @@ysp1784

[@titusorelius9458]

Extremely risky to walk around inside those buildings. Especially the stairs.

[@scylk]

Why risky? (I dont know anything about construction)

[@lennart266]

@@scylk Dude saw a couple of clips of houses made with faulty materials in China and assumes every single Chinese home falls apart when you enter them...

[@GavinMichaels]

@@lennart266 Well to be fair, it's not just china. Any abandoned home you're at a potential risk for it or something collapsing on you, that's the case everywhere - but especially when you're talking about abandoned mass produced homes... I wouldn't personally take the risk.

[@mikegardens]

That highrise in Downtown LA that got tagged is also a Chinese owned development the halted construction and sat unfinished and forgotten for years until it got tagged and got attention.

[@peterwu8471]

I live in China, this report doesn't even come close to showing the extent of the mal-investment.

[@ophila7]

How bad is the economy from your point of view?

[@peterwu8471]

@@ophila7Very hard to say, overall. Looks resilient in some ways and tragic in others. However, my point is really about the mal-investment in the housing market. It was like this half a decade ago, all over China. Most new houses, or at least a very large percentage of them are empty. I drove all over the country and saw it everywhere, from big cities to the countryside.

[@amalakeson1335]

I totally agree with you. I came to the conclusion that they had no idea what they were doing 🤷🏽‍♂or possessed by somet demonic AI 😱

[@DW-op7ly]

Basically many in the west are complaining because the Communist Chinese are cracking down on property speculation in China…. Yet cheering on our own crackdown on speculators here with interest rate hikes, empty home taxes, speculation taxes, and foreign buyer taxes which many seem to be Chinese investors who buy those monster homes and leave them empty Without this crackdown The other option is 70% of the Chinese in their real estate markets buying their 4th or 5th home right about now with a few hundred million rural migrants, migrating to the city without affordable homes In China in 2008 around 70% of the people in their real estate markets were buying their 1st homes in their cities By 2018 around 70% of the people in their real estate markets were buying their 2nd and 3rd homes in their cities That’s why you are hearing about problems with their property developers these days. Because back in 2010? Their Central Government started cutting of money flow to these developers. Thus why you heard about Shadow Banks and Underground Economy back then, that their Government had to come into to shutdown or regulate. Even then, It took them almost 14 years to get their overheated real estate under control Heck they were about to introduce a nation wide property tax, but then trump started the trade war in 2018 Why is their Central Government doing this? Because there are still a few hundred million poorer rural folk they still expect to move to the cities to join their more well off urban city folk countrymen. Problem is these property developers were building higher end homes, and not building the affordable homes these rural migrants will need In China Owning a home in the city you migrate to? Affects your employment, health, education and even marriage prospects don’t have a house you don’t get married Thus the common prosperity push and the crackdown on the overt displays of wealth in China Their Government probably figured out you disenfranchise the people at the bottom of your society they are the ones most likely to act out in protest

[@eileenmcdonald1599]

What do you expect in 5 min

[@SamuelGemette]

Proof that just cause u build it doesn't mean they will be running to come

[@dave9351]

They aren't coming, but they are certainly "breathing hard"

[@LivingLonger]

nope, they pay or loan first then they build.

[@Zack_Wester]

Especially when you build for a budget peaple can´t afford. several project was build for buyers that had no intrest in buying said units (upper mid would not buy a regular sized apartment for normal price out in noware where there wasn´t even jobs for them at the time). and peaple that was willing to move there to start the local market couldn´t afford it.

[@TRenai3]

They already took out the mortgage on the house. The developers aren't finishing. People are basically paying on a mortgage on an unfinished house that they can't live in.

[@uprailman]

Too bad we could not move them to the US as so many here need housing.

[@bgtaylor89]

looking like a real good movie set tho

[@garou498]

Wow! It remembers me of the first scene of Vampire Hunter D the vintage anime

[@qtdcanada]

Chinese builders really take to heart the old American saying: Build it and they will come! The trouble is they overbuilt so much for the existing population. Maybe they were 'banking' (pun intended) on people from other countries to come & buy these places?

[@zettaiengineer4202]

Unfinished property is often negative in value (costs more to repurpose than to build on bare land). Currently occupied properties will begin to empty out as depopulation intensifies, see Japan where abandoned homes are spreading from rural into suburban areas.

[@brahmburgers]

I hadn't heard of 'depopulation' before reading your post. It sounds interesting. The Earth's carrying capacity for humans, is about 1/20th the number that exists now.

[@jwonz2054]

This is fake news. Carrying capacity is like 5x what it is now.@@brahmburgers

[@Djamonja]

@@jwonz2054 Yea, it's pretty obvious the number would be over 8 billion since it's carrying that many right now, heh

[@user-jq6ro5rt6s]

@@Djamonja in order to sustain 8 billion, humans are using natural resources (underground water aquifers, nutrient rich soil/fertilizers) at a rate way higher than they can be replenished by naturally occuring biogeochemical systems. when those eventually run out the carrying capacity will be much lower (unless you wanna start genetically modifying everything/changing the weather). idk what the actual number is but the fact its carrying that many right now isn't indicative of much

[@testthewest123]

@@user-jq6ro5rt6s "Using ressources" that is pretty vague and also wrong. There is nothing special about underground water for example, only that it is easier to get then by desalinating sea water. Fertilizers is the same story. Most of them are artificially created (the times of Guano are over) and Fritz Haber even got an Nobel prize for inventing it. Infact: Huge amounts of the earth surface is unused. So no, you are wrong. Earth can sustain a lot more people than 8 billion.

[@greatndit]

4:33 6% fall is sales won't make such devastating effect on property sector ! it's far more than that

[@eric2205]

Shenyang that’s the city I studied in 10 years ago. Wow

[@cosminmorga1331]

Thanks for the video

[@detoxfidelity]

3:13 clearly they built this before Winnie the Pooh was banned 😂

[@darthvadeth6290]

It's really amazing to see how deep of an echo chamber Americans are living in while constantly shouting about free speech and free media. What's the point of a "free" society if you can believe, for years and decades, a myth that can be so easily proven false? 😂

[@Dave05J]

Did u not watch the video?​@darthvadeth6290 something you see right in front of your eyes is a myth? Go get yourself a dictionary.

[@shogaal14]

Working hard to get your paycheck today. What's the rate you get? Is it per word or per comment?

[@paxwebb]

@ismaelatta3470 He means Winnie the Pooh was never banned in China. Some online references to Pooh may have been scrubbed by sensors for a time back when Obama was president, but you've always been able to buy Winnie the Pooh products. Yet another misconception of the West...

[@_Sinsino_]

Even the cartoon (Winnie the Pooh ) is banned in China, Xi is another level when it comes to dictators, he is even scared of cartoon characters.

[@rabbidjeremy9193]

Good thing in America we are artificially propping up the real estate prices so that regular people can't afford a house. The foreign companies and hedge funds are making a killing though.

[@jalene150]

Meanwhile in America, the price of a new house is borderline unthinkable for younger seekers

[@janpierzchala2004]

Chris Watts mansion was inferior to those shown here

[@CrocodileWhispers]

lol why tf are you bringing up Chris Watts? @@janpierzchala2004

[@ivanrodriguez268]

young people in the US can't even change a light bulb... imagine them owning a home, just a tragedy waiting to happen

[@2ry1n]

Maybe some young people should do a better job saving money. Spending $6 coffee, Fiji water, $200 shoes, $1000+ phones, and expensive cars? You wonder why they can't save for a house?😂

[@NeneSimone]

At least the houses in the US are not tofu.

[@shiyu5769]

As a Chinese who couldn't afford the ridiculously highly priced properties, this feels almost vindicating. It's the policy makers who deserve it, yet it's the whole economy that suffers.

[@rocketeerPM2500]

Communism and islam are both utterly failed ideologies. Only brute force keeps their leaders in power.

[@bibliophile5700]

Do you like gutter oil?

[@user_thelongwayaround]

要怎麼了解中國經濟以及政府的措施和效果？有好的管道嗎？

[@bibliophile5700]

@@user_thelongwayaround gutter oil 😂

[@user-px2qp9no2i]

You can not afford to buy does not mean that no one can afford to buy, at the same time, the real estate economy in any country has a similar situation, is there no cheap house for you to choose? You are just looking for an excuse for vanity, and your ID does not seem to come from a Chinese Internet account!

[@ahheng6402]

In Malaysia, we have Forest City in the state of Johor

[@Skeeterpfr]

That is nuts, looks post apocalyptic

[@rainkloud]

Setting aside the tragedy for a moment, there is something hauntingly beautiful about all those unfinished buildings. A testament both to humanity's skill as well as its greed and incompetence. So sad to see these victims lose their savings and all these resources go to waste.

[@cccc-mj9wx]

没有浪费，这里是中国，有8亿刚刚摆脱贫困的人口，因为贪婪，导致价格扭曲，房子没有配置给需要的人，只要需求存在，还有机会纠正供应问题，游戏还在进行中。

[@mrxiong2567]

Don’t be. It’s a tough lesson learn for China.

[@ivanrodriguez268]

they look like cheap materials, also bad taste/design

[@radiomanze1296]

​@cccc-mj9wx This has been an issue for years. And yet it's still a ghost town. Where is the benefit for the people who live there?

[@Monaco-BuilditFixitDriveitEver]

You are unusually poetic.

[@azmrl]

not mentioned the environmental toll of all of that concrete gone to complete waste. and the ecological devastation of clearing the land. and the possible social turmoil from whoever was using the land before it was usurped. so many layers.

[@agates9383]

Yep - China - in 2003-2007 was taking 4 of every 5 taker shipments of concrete the US produced, we actually had a shortage in AZ when we were trying to build our own subdivisions during this time - all the concrete was heading to china (Portland Cement)

[@DW-op7ly]

Yet you Americans cried about trade deficits 😂

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

Source ? Proof ?

[@predabot__6778]

@@JonySmith-bb4gx Do you mean for the environmental impact of Concrete? And the pointless use of concrete for houses that will never be used? The later, you can see with your own eyes in this video, and there are many others like it on youtube - from different areas. Regarding the former, you can click this link to learn more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_concrete#References

[@ciararespect4296]

​@@agates9383years before the Chinese bought up all the steel. Europe was sloshing in money but now all frittered away and no heavy manufacturing jobs now

[@mikebarton]

Fascinating. 🤔

[@mairepcod4063]

Thanks,

[@leighsimmons2663]

I live in Shenzhen and there is an island off the city that is also a ghost town full of unfinished hotels. It’s quite incredible and eerie. You can just walk around them, camp there, take photos. Just shells with nobody protecting them or working on them.

[@physxme]

Sounds like an interesting place for a weekend, where can I find it? I also live in Shenzhen.

[@chrisschneiders6734]

Truly mind blowing!!

[@bluepurplepink]

This would be a sick spot to film

[@aryaaswale7316]

kinda crazy that the two largest economies have housing curbing huge potential but one has way too many and the other has too few

[@bobbritch9555]

great video. i just wish it was longer

[@PM2024-]

Me too

[@yu-annchen2487]

The main problem, which exists everywhere but is somehow compounded by several times in China, is the cost of living rising so much quicker than the income levels, while rural areas are also experiencing rapid gentrification . There is also an expectation of having a house and a car before one gets married, all of which results in many young people relying heavily on their parents savings and then borrowing large sums of money from the bank in order to buy these overpriced houses. The monthly mortgage on houses may even be greater than the monthly salary in several instances. That in addition to the severe impact of the one child policy on sharp population decline has led to this crazy housing bubble, which is just a ridiculous vicious cycle.

[@dezy8941]

Wow! I think a saw a similar video 2-3 years ago. Is this occurring again???

[@user-xe9pi7sx4b]

在他们眼里中国天天在崩溃😂可是美国零元购却天天在发生😂

[@berengerchristy6256]

Kind of incredible we have the opposite problem stateside. Too few homes

[@d.c.484]

This is really a difficult situation. Even if the govt bails out the developers all the home owners would want to sell immediately because of the trauma which in turn would lower the value of the homes - assuming someone would want to buy them.

[@J_X999]

The government is focusing on the "Three Major Projects" instead of bailing out the indebted, speculative private developers.

[@elizabethsheffield6609]

.........they should consider a BAN on any new-building in areas where there are ALREADY unoccupied/unsold/empty homes.

[@winkus8586]

China have millions of emty houses. While america have millions of homeless.

[@alquinn8576]

the US has ~600K homeless, not millions

[@MadDogPeople]

US also has millions of empty houses. Some people own 10-20 houses whie others are homeless.

[@nappiral]

Think we could ship them to China?

[@rap3208]

@@MadDogPeople And now, empty business buildings.

[@AndyThomasStaff]

Disgusting waste of concrete, concrete sand is a limited and scarce resource, so much of it wasted in that dump.

[@krissp8712]

The lime also generates a tonne of CO2 to produce as well. At least concrete can be recycled.

[@adamgoodword7888]

nah, probably all made from tofu-dreg.

[@photopuppet]

I very much doubt concrete sand was used in the construction 😅

[@anthonybernstein9698]

If you are a limited company and protected by company law, it doesn't matter how much you waste when it's not your money. Let the creditors worry, that's the policy of crooked company owners.

[@AndyThomasStaff]

@@anthonybernstein9698no one cares

[@user-hd4jc1ct8q]

A huge waste of natural resources - sand to make concrete, copper for wiring, lumber, etc.

[@hhydar883]

they should turn it into a film/tv set... Location is amazing tbh

[@viciouslady1340]

Quality workmanship as always

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

China creates USA doesn't

[@beachthor1]

This gives me a brief but profound feeling of sadness.

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

Why do

[@TheStockwell]

2:30 I remember a similar shot from "The Shining."

[@LilRedRasta]

Sweet....now show Philly

[@lucastanga6732]

What I don't understand is how could they not notice that their business model wasn't working anymore. I can understand repeating the same mistake twice, but how could they keep going, building hundreds of thousands of unfinished homes and expect to get away with it?

[@ilyakrivorotov2491]

The business model is sound. These are hit and run operations (fraud). The people in charge have collected the funds and are long gone from China. Probably bought a real mansion here in the USA.

[@popcorn6931]

the average chinese is dizzy with ambitions of getting rich while the ccp is dizzy with beating the US economy.

[@70-860]

Compare it with a Ponzi scheme. developers - Once you stop you'll be found out. The government wants to keep it going because it boost their GDP.

[@TooSlowTube]

Since people were getting mortgages to buy the homes before they were finished, I guess it operated like a Ponzi scheme, and the building work was just something to show to help them sell. So, it was working, as long as the money kept coming in.

[@AW-gj4ji]

Its quite easy to scam in China, and pretty much anywhere in the world I guess

[@alooga555]

Some of the Chinese migrants walking right into the U.S. are people who used to work in the real estate industry back in China giving up on their former profession. They travel to Thailand where the Chinese can enter with no visa, catch a flight to Turkey then to Ecuador (no visa required) where they start their journey up north to the U.S. - Mexico border. The number of encounters has exploded by ten times between 2022 and 2023. (Source: Nikkei)

[@lazylion420]

1:23 part of the sign appears to be missing, but I'm pretty sure that it used to say *"Delusions of Grandeur Place"*

[@7AURA7]

It amazes me how quickly houses deteriorate without anyone tending to them.

[@zapfanzapfan]

There is a similar project in Turkey... a field of empty half finished French mansions.

[@nnddii]

What the reason? To get money from investors and disappear?

[@CrocodileWhispers]

Turkey has like the second worst currency in the world. Erdogan REFUSES to increase interest rates. Erdogan has family that run a huge construction company. Here's where these two parts of Erdogan clash. What is a good way to secure your money when inflation is going crazy? You invest your money into property. Something SOLID that can hold value. Erdogan has 0 incentive to raise rates because people (wanting to SOLIDIFY their money before it crashes in value) are taking their money out of savings (and getting a loan) and investing it into solid property... property his contruction company will build. So by keeping the cost of lending low the government will just print print print print print print this is why you need a free press that can expose these crooks. and a judiciary independent enough to put them away. @@nnddii

[@Vivaldi111]

Don't build French style-chateaus unless youre a aristocrat.

[@jamesraymond1158]

Shenyang has long, cold winters. How do you insulate these concrete walls? Here, newly built homes are covered with Tyvek before the outer layer is added.

[@commie5211]

This is not even Shenyang, i would not even call it suburbs. Manchuria is basically like rust belt of the US, slightly better. Had been depopulating ever since the 2000s. Northern China run central heating system like the Soviet Union, using hot water from the nearest coal/gas power stations, or shared boilers. It was quite hot and dry inside, most of the time.

[@urbanknish]

The struggle sessions are taking place away from cameras this time.

[@richardhayman4868]

Incredible.

[@KP82457]

This reminds me of all those abandoned houses in Turkey. It's such a waste considering that there are so many homeless and displaced people in the world. Smh 🤦🏾‍♀️

[@Bav_ar]

Yeah in the world they need to take them to china and turkey 😂 ?

[@ottophobia]

There's also the Oceanside Plaza DTLA that has been in the news lately because artists are covering it in Graffiti, which was Chinese owned.

[@vaticinus]

I heard that China has built enough homes for 3 billion people but only 300 million Chinese can afford such homes and those people already have homes.

[@Likeaworm]

Yup anywhere from 1.5 to 3 billion abandoned flats. BILLION

[@thatguy-hh1nf]

They don't even have enough to buy food man

[@user-dowantyouwant]

the food is cheap ,all of them can buy it,If you come to China you will know it.

[@dewaard3301]

I'd love that to be true, but how would one verify such a claim? I recently saw a video that used satellite data of things like light pollution to assert that Chinese GDP by now has become overstated by an accumulated 100%-150%. Not sure what to make of that, as they didn't add any supporting metrics.

[@lawrencewong6184]

​@@dewaard3301According to Gordon Chang, Peter Zeihan and George Friedman , China Economy has collapsed every year for decades.

[@JAFrk]

I think the weirdest part about the housing market in China is that many people see it as a financial investment. Land in China is actually all owned by the government and is loaned out on 70 year leases where it's developed upon. Chinese Citizens actually cannot own land. How can property be seen as an investment (especially long term/generational) if the government can just reclaim it after 70 years?

[@DaysGabe]

Same way we westerners pay taxes to "rent" our land. Stop paying and you can guess what happens. You can claim we own land but all of the rules and laws of the government supersede your ownership.

[@DW-op7ly]

I was going to argue the same thing Add into the fact only property owners in the bigger tier 1 cities in China are charged property taxes And that was to cool down their markets Probably should have made it nation wide a decade ago

[@Salmagundiii]

@@DaysGabe "Same way we westerners pay taxes to "rent" our land." Not really. You at least have a right to vote for politicians who will reduce property taxes.

[@DaysGabe]

@@Salmagundiii My only goal with my response you quoted was to bridge a gap in understanding. You make a good point in theory, but everyone knows that in practice, western politicians routinely lie and accept big money (i.e. corruption) to get elected. I enjoy and will fight for my rights as a westerner, but western style liberal democracy is not the only way forward. (In fact, we became this free AFTER securing our living standards by colonizing the rest of the world). I'm hopeful because China demonstrates new pathways forward for the rest of the post colonial world that we westerners love to critique and look down on, and this WSJ video is a perfect example of that.

[@jwzjwz2003cn]

Property tax is practically zero in China.

[@Dotthel]

The homes are too close together!!

[@lilacghoste8366]

Rich people don't do lawns

[@andyhe9316]

So they can build more houses to sell.

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

Still better than USA

[@amalakeson1335]

🙄No!

[@haroldlongbaugh9839]

True land developers all know that. But Hollywood producers don't care, when they just want the shoot done quickly.

[@christophervincent3520]

Great place for a film location!

[@JSees]

That is certainly crazy.

[@aznpryde111]

Missed a lot of key facts. This is not a US 2008 financial crisis via home defaults. This is a speculation bubble. China has a 90% homeownership rate. Due to weak stock markets in China, most Chinese family dump their money into speculative investment properties. It isn't uncommon for upper middle class to own 4+ homes. This is just the market correcting itself and for the better.

[@mr.jackstone9256]

Correcting itself is a funny way of saying "billions of dollars, millions of worker positions and a incommensurable amount of trust in the economy going up in flames" Speculation or not, thats still money gone gone, and jobs gone gone, no business or investment exists isolated

[@matthewmiller6568]

Actually it's not homeownership souch as it is leasing the homes. China doesn't allow for perpetuity in this matter

[@iamric23]

Dude, you are missing a huge point! These two companies borrowed a lot of money and no way to pay it back. You forget too that people leverage a 2nd and 3rd home, now what are there options, none, they are broke with no home. People who did the work don't get paid, these buildings will need to be brought down at some point, more money spent.

[@brahmburgers]

It's almost funny, you trying to paint a silver lining on this massive problem.

[@annsmith7207]

What is it about speculation in real estate that you don't understand? It is debt -- it is not cash -- and speculation is always just that -- speculation ! Debt is debt whether it was 2008 or 2024 -- it may have a different face but it is still debt!

[@cricketarena4926]

Chinas has more house than its people while 9 percentage of Americans living in Streets 😅

[@alquinn8576]

unsheltered homelessness in the US is more like 0.1-0.2% of the population, and a large number of those people are cray cray

[@amronronnoc742]

This is both sad & scary !

[@vell2994]

Honestly thr architecture of those is so my style, such a dream home

[@barbarasara4033]

Looks scary

[@czinn327]

It's good to see real journalism.

[@dancingpixie6120]

This is unbelievable! How is that legal?? What of the families that purchased?? SMH

[@gibu002]

3:13 A Tigger should have a Winnie the Pooh somewhere near by... lol...... right?

[@escapetherace1943]

LOL now we know why it all shut down, and the families were never to be seen again the Pooh-spiracy!

[@strykenine7902]

It's interesting that in China a lot of the time buyers paid up front for properties. I wonder if people paid up front for these, and if they did, what was their recourse?

[@70-860]

None. They could move into a place with no windows, doors or electricity.

[@18waywardson]

I lived in Beijing 2011-2018. We had our prom in a huge castle, somebody was renting it out for events. So i guess some companies are making use of certain buildings.

[@solar2607]

How cold and depressing 😢

[@user-ck6bf3ke1w]

Investors be warned. You'd never want to purchase a house that's been left unfinished for that amount of time. They'll just be constant money pits, because of all the serious & exorbitantly costly issues it's surely already caused. They'll just paste over the decay, and here in another two or three years after completion your home will start falling all apart, and you'll really wish you'd of listened when you still had the chance.

[@savagecub]

I could have shown you this six years ago on a drive from the airport in Shanghai to downtown.

[@zkh173]

government should step in and finish the project, these condos look amazing and almost done, it would be a tremendous waste if abandoned