Real estate sales have plunged by more than 20 percent across major cities in China, despite Beijing’s efforts to shore up its struggling housing market.
Authorities have tried rolling out stimulus policies, such as tax breaks for new home buyers and lower mortgage rates but the overall performance of the real estate market remains poor after the Oct. 1 holiday week, which traditionally is a peak time for real estate sales.
Analysts point out that the sharp decline resembles Japan’s real estate bubble in the 1980s. Influenced by multiple facts, such as the pandemic and an aging population, China can hardly rely on economic growth or fiscal policies to overcome the housing market crisis, they say….