China real estate: would-be buyers ask whether it’s a home or a hindrance as they seek to wait out market turmoil
- But analysts warn that even a short-term aversion to buying property, if it becomes widespread enough, could manifest into a critical consumption situation
- Property downturn persists as Beijing is rolling out consumption initiatives to get people spending again on big-ticket items and economy-boosting services
He Ying had little choice on the home front, as it were. In uncertain economic times, she and her husband delayed plans to buy a flat in Guangzhou this year.
Between China’s deflated property market and an unexpected reduction in the 36-year-old human resource manager’s household income, it was an informed and measured situation underscored by worrisome economic data.
“I’ve been saving for a down payment for several years, but this year my husband’s income is very unstable,” said He, whose husband moved more than 1,000km away to Zhejiang province last month for work after being unable to find any locally for a few months. For now, she remains with their two-year-old son in Guangzhou.
In the midst of a weakened property market that has yet to show a clear sign of bottoming out, in a nation struggling to cope with unprecedented demographic changes, He, like many other middle-class Chinese, is unlikely to heed words of encouragement from Beijing as authorities hope to make the big-budget consumption of goods – such as homes and cars – a driver of economic growth.
“Property prices are falling, and more young people are choosing not to get married or buy a house or have children,” He said. “All of this makes me think I shouldn’t buy property this year, and instead should hang on to the cash in case something happens.”
