Ordos Bottoms Out As Residents Refuse to Buy Homes

The bottom of a bear market is marked by a complete reversal of psychology. Frenzied activity and panic buying is replaced with complete indifference or rejection of the market in question. The Ordos real estate has now reached that stage as residents say they won't buy again.

Empty buildings are abundant in Ordos and prices are low, but no one wants to buy. Where there was once 1000 housing related companies that were participating in the bubble, now there are only a handful. It will take two to three years for the market to digest the existing inventory. At the peak, one man recounts the story of how is boss, when prices were around ￥4000 /sqm, raised prices to ￥5000 to ￥6000 /sqm. The units were quickly sold out, but the result is that investors lost a total of ￥200 to ￥300 million.

Prices moved with the dominant coal industry. Prices stumbled with the 2008 crisis, but then exploded in the wake of the ￥4 trillion stimulus. Coal prices topped a couple of years later and real estate quickly followed.

Victims are everywhere in the city. One man invested in an unfinished property that peaked at ￥8000 /sqm. This year he sold for ￥6200 /sqm, not counting the cost of furnishing the house. He still has four other properties and won't buy any more.

iFeng: 鄂尔多斯遍地空置楼房 市民：不会再买了