Finance & economics | Economic rescue

Why China needs to fill its empty homes

The country’s economy is broken. A recovery requires a healthier property market

Photograph: Getty Images
|Luoyang

If not another flat was built and sales continued at their current pace, it would take eight years to sell all the homes lying dormant around Luoyang, a city of 7m in central China. The region is a hot spot for the country’s property crisis, where years of overbuilding have turned entire districts into housing graveyards. Sprawling wastelands of concrete and glass scar the city.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Haunted by ghosts”

From the November 2nd 2024 edition

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