Jim Rogers : Shanghai, Hong Kong Property in Bubble, May Fall

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by ASusilovic, Jan 19, 2010.

  1. Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Shanghai and Hong Kong property prices may fall after being driven higher by speculative demand, while the rest of the Chinese economy is “hardly in a bubble,” investor Jim Rogers said.

    Attempts by China’s government to restrain lending may ease speculation and accelerating inflation, Rogers said in an interview in Bloomberg’s Singapore bureau today.

    Property prices in 70 cities across China climbed 7.8 percent in December, the fastest pace in 18 months, a government report showed last week. Hong Kong’s real estate prices rallied the most among the world’s major housing markets last year, according to property adviser Knight Frank LLP, adding to signs that the city’s home values have risen too much.

    “Certainly, Shanghai real estate or Hong Kong real estate should decline,” Rogers said. “My goodness, if anything’s in a bubble in the world, that and U.S. government bonds are certainly very overpriced.”

    China’s property sales jumped 75.5 percent to 4.4 trillion yuan ($644 billion) last year, led by the eastern cities of Zhejiang and Shanghai, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on its Web site today. Fred Hu, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s chairman for Greater China, said yesterday real estate prices in China, Hong Kong and Singapore need monitoring for signs of bubbles forming.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqp2.DUN5qaI&pos=5