From the China Daily (link):
An expert Monday warned that official figures are seriously underestimating the amount of property currently lying empty in China.
According to a first quarter report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday, 123 million square metres of space in new buildings was unused at the end of March, a rise of about 24 per cent year-on-year. In the residential sector, 69.8 million square metres of housing is lying empty, an increase of approximately 20 per cent.
However, a report released by Beijing Normal University‘s Finance Research Centre earlier this month said that at least 70 per cent of urbanities could not afford to purchase new apartments.
See also the New York Times’ “China takes step to deflate an impending property bubble” by David Barboza
