• eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    18 hours ago

    As I understand it, housing speculation has filled a similar role to 401(k)s in the US, the relatively illiquid asset that “always goes up”.

    People will feel a lot poorer when their apartment loses 70% of its value, and I don’t think that’s exactly the same as, say, a big leveraged builder going out of business.

    You’re right of course the US won’t let one rich man go broke so it is worse there.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOP
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      18 hours ago

      Chinese household savings hit a record high in 2024 https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-jones-bank-earnings-01-12-2024/card/chinese-household-savings-hit-another-record-high-xqyky00IsIe357rtJb4j

      90% of families in the country own their home giving China one of the highest home ownership rates in the world. What’s more is that 80% of these homes are owned outright, without mortgages or any other leans. https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/03/30/how-people-in-china-afford-their-outrageously-expensive-homes

      Student debt in China is virtually non-existent. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jlim/2016/08/29/why-china-doesnt-have-a-student-debt-problem/

      It’s pretty clear that there is very little negative impact from housing prices falling on the vast majority of the population. And it’s great news for young people who are moving from countryside to the cities and can now afford cheap housing.

      The key reason why 2008 was a clusterfuck was because Obama decided to bail out the bankers and fuck the working class in the process.

      • eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        17 hours ago

        I used to own a house free and clear. If the value dropped by half, I would still feel a lot poorer.

        When the price of assets held as a store of value drops, the holders of those assets are impoverished. That’s already bad.

        Now, when a fall in the price of assets held as a store of value drops, and that triggers a series of defaults that ripples across the financial system, that’s even worse.

        I can’t see from the outside the degree to which Chinese society has been financialized, but I’m betting it’s more than the CCP wants to let on.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOP
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          16 hours ago

          I mean, literally the first link in my reply is saying that household savings in China are at record high levels. 🤷

          When the cost of hosing, the basic necessity for living, drops that is in fact a very good thing. And the record high savings number clearly demonstrates that housing is not a primary investment vehicle for majority of the population. As Xi put it, hosing is for living. This was an intentional policy choice and a correct one.

          If you think that Chinese society has been financialized then you’re utterly clueless on the subject and have no business discussing it.