- China's recent economic growth was half due to real estate, a substantial part which was speculation
- the "real estate developers" usually just take the deposits and sometimes build a property, but often not (a ponzi scheme)
- it only takes a small amount of embezzlement, which is rife, for the house of cards to come down. Where's the money? In US and Canada Wsst Coast real estate, of course.
- this exposes the ponzi practice for most such companies
- which means China's real economic growth is somewhere between half to 2/3 of what has been reported for 2 decades
- this threatens investment in China as the story is adjusted down.
- in addition, China has stopped capital outflows since 2016, so foreign investment is one-way. (if you're Volkswagen and you invested in building a factory in China, you got played.)