Real Estate Rising?

The January numbers are out, and it looks like China’s real estate rumble continues. Analysis from most of the country’s regions shows that prices continued to rise in the vast majority of markets for the month as Chinese continued to plunk down their life savings, and the savings of family, friends and their local neighborhood banks, on the belief that things can only go up. Of course everyone knows that what goes up must eventually come down, especially when price hikes get out of whack with market reality. The question is when, and if that when is anytime soon. What the numbers I looked at failed to show is sales volume, which I suspect is down sharply. I have spent the last few days viewing Shanghai apartments, and the agent tells me that sales here have come to a virtual standstill as everyone waits to see what effect the government’s latest cooling measures will have. New taxes on properties sold for quick profits also have people worried. Is a crash imminent? I’d say the boom still probably has another quarter or two left to it, but beyond that you might want to hold off on betting on that new ranch home you may have been eying. Property builders beware…