Quote from mickmak:
Shanghai market is very different from western realestate market. Most of you don't know about Chinese culture, so you are only looking at the fundamentals.
Yes - housing prices compare to average salary is way out of line. 1.5million yuan for crappy 2bed (800sq feet). Average salary in Shanghai is around 2500 yuan a month.
Before 08, people in the US bought homes way over what they can afford with NINA loans (no income, no asset). But in China, you can't get that type of loans. You will need to have that 20% in cash - the way people save there, they have it. Most of them can put down more than 30% of the home value in cash because they buy the home with a family of 4 incomes - your parents, you, your wife. Sometimes, your in-laws incomes help you as well due to the 4-2-1 affect (4 grandparents, 2 kids each side, 1 grandchild)
But of course, the well connected don't need to put that much cash down in a home. They may not have that much "clean" cash in the bank. We all know that the well connected in China have plenty of hidden cash around - businesses, kick-backs, etc.
In either two cases, the buyers can obsorb a price correction - unlike what happend here.
Well, let's see. They put 20% down, prices fall 60%, they lose their source of income, etc... and you're telling me they can absorb it?
Plus, you're completely wrong. In China, and in a lot of Asian countries, people take huge loans with very little money down, and no real hope of ever paying it back. I remember an article about a Chinese taxi driver with 25,000 dollars in credit card debt.
The bubble there is so much bigger than the US bubble, you can't even compare the two.
Plus, even at the bubble price, American homes were still far higher in quality and far cheaper than Chinese homes. Chinese homes have a lot further to fall in price before they become reasonable. And the dominoes have already begun to fall. Let's see how clever the world's bankers can get to keep all this from unfolding.