News out of China is looking bad. Looks like a property crash is happening as well as an economic slowdown as exports fall. Eurpoean exports falling by double digit numbers from last year. Riots happening as property prices fall and speculators getting burnt. Happy Xmas one and all!!
I wonder if this will have any toll on the housing market in Vancouver. A lot of the real estate here has been propped up by foreign (Chinese) money. I know there is a demand to live here, but the market here has been parabolic for over a decade now, will this finally cause a cool down?
Australia is the same. Its on the end of a supply chain with the US and Europe on the other end and China in the middle. Local politicians keep congratulating themselves on how well they ran the economy while the reality is that they were no better than any others - the Chinese just kept buying Australian minerals and propped it up. The next year may be unpleasantly interesting. Which might reveal all before the elections.
I wonder if the Aussie central bank sees the writing on the wall hence lowering cash rate to 4.25%. Looks like commodity demand will be falling in 2012 As for property prices they are still falling in my town located in MA.
Very similar situation to Canada. We've been through this before, there is always a price to pay in the end, but institutional and generational memory doesn't seem to go back that far.