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Best of 2023: Chinese investors scrambling to sell overseas properties tops most-read China economy stories

  • A report on Chinese investors unloading their overseas properties amid shaky economic conditions garnered the most views
  • China’s dwindling exports, durian, shipping and canals, the US-China tech war and the C919 – China’s first domestically developed narrowbody passenger jet – also featured

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Stories involving Durian featured on the list of the most read China economy stories in 2023. Photo: Xinhua
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A story looking at Chinese investors scrambling to sell overseas properties amid shaky economic conditions took centre stage at the top of a list of our economy stories in 2023.

1. Chinese investors scramble to sell overseas properties amid shaky economic conditions

(He Huifeng – September 24, 2023)

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Soon after China decided to lift border controls in January, ending three years of zero-Covid measures, Stephen Yao embarked on a new mission.

Representing more than 200 middle-class Chinese families with many in second-tier cities, the Guangdong-based property agent has been searching for buyers for the investment properties his clients bought in Southeast Asian countries before the pandemic.

Property used to be the most favoured investment for Chinese people engaged in wealth accumulation, when it promised rapid and steady economic growth. Small apartments and condos in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, were a popular choice for the Chinese middle classes in the late 2010s due to affordability and geographic proximity.

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