China’s empty apartments mysteriously boom as growth slumps

Friday 18 October 2019

September QTR Chinese growth hit its lowest level since whenevs today at 6%:

Internals all surprised to the upside, which is no surprise at all, given the need to not lose face in the trade war. Industrial production roared back at 5.8%, fixed asset investment held at 5.4% and retail sales pumped up at 7.8%. And yes, given PMI readings, I do think that they are all exaggerated:

Turning to the one thing that China does well, building empty apartments, sales have been falling all year (the yellow line):

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.