Money Talks: Land, locked
Money Talks from The Economist
The Economist
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2022
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mortgage boycotts that began in Jiangxi, China have spread to nearly 100 cities across the country, threatening over 320 real estate projects. They add more trouble to a property market that was already in turmoil and portend future pain in the world’s second largest economy.
On this week’s episode, hosts Mike Bird, Soumaya Keynes and Alice Fulwood are joined by our China economics editor, Simon Cox, and our China business and finance editor, Don Weinland, to find what’s causing the crisis. First, University of California San Diego associate professor Victor Shih explains why the roots of this crisis go as far back as the early 1990s. Then, investor Andrew Left re-evaluates his report from 2012 in which he said the now-bankrupt Evergrande - once China’s second-largest property developer - was a fraud. The call got him banned from trading on Hong Kong’s stock exchange. And finally, they ask what this could mean politically for the Chinese government.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Money talks from the economist is sponsored by Invest Puerto Rico. |
| 0:06.0 | More than just a Caribbean paradise, Puerto Rico is a business powerhouse. |
| 0:11.0 | This U.S. territory is a fast-growing hub for innovators. |
| 0:15.0 | Puerto Rico boasts numerous tax credits, business incentives, |
| 0:19.0 | and world-class talent that take your business to the next level. |
| 0:23.0 | Find out why at InvestPR.org. |
| 0:26.0 | Gamechangers, welcome home. |
| 0:30.0 | I've come to see a stalled property development. |
| 0:38.0 | There's a lot of unfinished buildings that look like they're in disrepair. |
| 0:42.0 | Last week, our China business and finance editor Don Wainland set on a tour of some of the country's cities, |
| 0:48.0 | including Xi'an in the Northwest. |
| 0:51.0 | So there's a lot of windows that don't have any glass in them, |
| 0:56.0 | some scaffolding around some of the buildings. |
| 0:59.0 | Some of them look like they're almost complete, |
| 1:02.0 | and then others have no finished facade or anything like that. |
| 1:07.0 | I can hear some drills coming from inside the developments. |
| 1:11.0 | I don't know what that means exactly, |
| 1:14.0 | but according to Chinese media, this area has been deserted for a couple months. |
| 1:20.0 | As in many cities around China, housing here had been a very high demand. |
| 1:25.0 | Many people put down nearly 100% deposits on flats before they'd even been built, |
| 1:30.0 | or in this case, half built. |
| 1:32.0 | Lots of the residents who bought these homes have actually moved into them before they've been completed. |
... |
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