Made in China: Chinese buildings are falling apart (oldies, but still great videos)

ADVChina 7-2-18







Those pictures are from buildings that are only approx 3 years old and are owned by "rich" Chinese people (a parked Bentley is shown parked by the building).

The 3rd picture shows roofs of balconies that just collapsed. At a certain point in the video the 2 vloggers laeve b/c they're not sure if it's safe to even walk around the buildings.

ADVChina 11-19-16


6-story building collapses in Shenzen

Why is everything in China falling apart?

quote:

---

But when real estate development becomes half of the economy, and literally thousands of highrise buildings have been thrown up, along with glitzy malls, U.S.-style suburban develpments, grand civic plazas, etc., then at some point there won't be enough money in the Universe to tear them all down and rebuild them in a yet grander fashion.

If you have spent some time in China, then you already know building maintenance is not a priority, a recognized trade or even a concept which has a toehold in the mindshare of frenzied development and the pursuit of glorious riches.

---

quote:

---

Many buildings in Beijing are built with the cheapest materials available, which tend to degrade quickly. This is a worryingly common phenomenon. There are many buildings here that appear as if they are 10 or 15 years old, but are really just five years old. That's a little bit sad.

I have a 75-year-old apartment in New York, but it's still in great condition. You don't see that here. Fast and cheaply built apartment complexes dominate the property market here and there will be future consequences for this. And it might be apartment owners who end up paying them.

---

TD/DR Summary:

The Chinese economy is based off "real estate", ie, building new complexes constantly. People don't live in these complexes (see: Ghost cities of China) and "buy" them as investments. The only way this house of cards works is if people keep buying and "investing" so that demand (by the investors, not homeowners) keeps the prices going up.

That sounds like the US, but the difference is in China, since nobody ever lives in these places (along with some other cultural things like decorating decreasing the value), they are the utterly worst quality of construction imaginable. Even in the video of the 6-story building that collapsed, it says nobody lived above the wet market on the first floor. So to keep costs down (and since there isn't a huge risk of killing people), these are simply unconscionably built buildings.

On top of the construction cost issue, nobody maintains anything in China. This isn't just b/c of the cost of management, but also because even if you live there, you're likely only renting and another 1,000 shiny, new complexes are going to be an option for you shortly. It's just a constant cycle of moving into new buildings and letting old ones rot (those who have lived in Baton Rouge post 2005 understand this concept very well).

At some point the government won't be able to prop up this false economy. At least in the US when our housing bubble hit, there was a tangible house that was usable at the end of the day. Sure you lost 25% of the cost, but you aren't eating 100% of it. These Chinese "investors" are going to be left holding ownership of literal debris piles when the bubble pops.

Also, if any of you have watched their videos before, serpentza explains why he left China and laowhy86 explains how he had to escape China. Scary shite.