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Well, the article itself says "Although the city's 20 million residents represent less than 2% of China's population of 1.3 billion, Xie says, Shanghai accounts for an astounding 20% of the country's property value. About 1 million homes in Shanghai alone ? about half the number of housing starts for the entire United States in 2004 ? are under construction."
I agree with you, Shanghai is a completely seperate market from the US. However, I think there are som simularities to, most specifically, to Floridia's condo market. Rapidly growing inventory being sold mostly to speculators, popularity of pre-construction contracts, and most importantly, speculator psychology.
$5 submissions -- speaking of Japan, they've had a slow real estate ride straight down for 15 years or so now. I think that a growing population, especially thanks to both legal and illegal immigration, will probably mean that housing supply in the US is not in over supply, and may never be. However, that doesn't mean that in the short term certain investors who have engaged in more risky practices aren't headed for trouble, especially with certain factors like hybrid mortgages reseting this year and possible a slight increase in interest rates.
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