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Fifty million empty flats threaten to plunge China’s troubled property market further into crisis, warns think tank
- The average vacancy rate in mainland China is 12.1 per cent, according to BRI, meaning millions of empty units could flood the market
- Now the property boom is over, the unoccupied homes are beginning to feel like a burden for their anxious owners
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Liu Hong and her parents own four homes in different cities across mainland China. At any one time, as many as three of them are unoccupied.
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The 36-year-old, who works as an auditor in Shanghai, bought a flat in her hometown of Harbin in northern Heilongjiang province 13 years ago for 320,000 yuan (US$47,500). It stands just two blocks away from her parents’ place, which was given to her father for free by the school he taught at three decades ago – a common practice in mainland China at the time.
“My dad and mum insisted I should have my own home as they held the firm belief that I would someday go back and live in Harbin, or I might need it to save money before I get married,” Liu said.
“Neither of those things happened, and now for half of the year my parents stay with me in Shanghai after they both retired.”
Liu bought herself a two-bedroom apartment in Shanghai for 2.6 million yuan when the market was sizzling in 2015, after deciding to settle down in the city.
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Growing anger over China’s unfinished ‘rotten tail’ buildings: ‘We really need this home’
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When both Harbin and Shanghai are too cold, between October and April, her parents travel to Haikou, in southern China’s Hainan province, where they own a small holiday home.
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