My father came back from a visit to China maybe a decade ago with hundreds of pictures of ghost cities full of empty skyscrapers. Turns out there’s a Wikipedia article about the phenomenon, and it says that they are filling up with people over time and getting used as intended. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in...
In the US it seems like most builds don’t get started until after it’s acutely needed. Makes sense given the way development investment works here. I know the situation is much more complicated in China than just where the money comes from, but maybe it’s a little bit of a good thing to build housing supply in advance of the demand? It seems like China’s economy supports doing that in a way that the US’s doesn’t.
In the US it seems like most builds don’t get started until after it’s acutely needed. Makes sense given the way development investment works here. I know the situation is much more complicated in China than just where the money comes from, but maybe it’s a little bit of a good thing to build housing supply in advance of the demand? It seems like China’s economy supports doing that in a way that the US’s doesn’t.