A Loan Officer's View of the Real Estate Market

A Conversation With A Chinese Real Estate Trust Loan Officer

The situation now is worse than in 2008 and 2010. At that time it was policy suppression that caused the downturn; now it is a weakening of internal demand.

Two points: First, the entire market is under serious pressure, and we need to be very careful and cautious when making investment choices. The growth rate for China is declining.

Second, as demand and supply for housing normalizes, there is still huge difference in the real estate markets in different areas. Every city should be studied separately. Good cities for investment have solid public services and supplementary infrastructure that encourage people to move to the city and purchase properties.

Take Changsha for example: It has a strong heavy manufacturing industry along with a good entertainment and media industry. With the support from these two industries, the real estate market can develop.