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China not headed for Japan-style property bust, says minister

Chen Zhenggao talks down the possibility of a sudden real estate slump amid a rebound in prices in country’s top-tier cities

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Chen Zhenggao, China’s Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, has mounted a strong defence of the mainland’s frothy real estate market. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Daniel Renin Shanghai

China’s housing bubbles are controllable and the country’s property market is not on track for a Japan-style boom and bust.

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That was the view of Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Chen Zhenggao, who mounted a strong defence of the country’s frothy real estate market on Tuesday.

He said action by the authorities and the national urbanisation drive could be instrumental in helping China avoid a sudden collapse in housing prices that battered Japan decades ago.

“It’s a different era now,” Chen said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.

“The two markets [of China and Japan] cannot be compared because they are at different stages of economic development, have different levels of urbanisation, and have different macroeconomic policies.”

READ MORE: China property bubble bound to burst, say experts

Japan’s stock market plummeted in 1990 after a period of inflated real estate and stock prices, resulting in a prolonged slump in the island nation’s economy.

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