China's home owners full of confidence - Sam Crispin

Sam Crispin

Real estate prices in China might have come down a bit, for a Chinese his home is still his castle, says real estate expert Sam Crispin in Newsweek.

Soaring property prices have done little to diminish the desire to buy property rather than rent, says Sam Crispin, head of Crispin Property Investment Management and a veteran of Shanghai's housing market reforms. "Many people see renting property as money down the drain," he notes. "It's a little like Britain: my home is my castle, even if I can't quite afford my health care or my education," he says. There's also been a speculative side to China's real-estate boom—with investors from wealthy parts of China such as eastern via WikipediaZhejiang province pouring money into property all over the country fueling price rises in many second- and third-tier cities.,,,
Now though, the government finds itself under significant pressure to help protect the interests of developers. The market cooling measures of the past few years have gradually contributed to a slowing in price rises in some of the bigger cities—and equally significant, China's economy has this year begun to see the knock-on effects of the global slowdown. When Vanke, one of China's biggest developers, tried in August to lower prices of apartments in a residential development in Hangzhou, owners concerned about the effect on their property values attacked Vanke's offices. There's little evidence that Beijing's efforts to stimulate the market are having an impact, say experts. "Price-cutting by developers is so new that it's just raised the expectation of more cuts to come," says Crispin.

More at Newsweek.

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Sam Crispin is an eminent expert on China's real estate and a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having him as a speaker, do get in touch.

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