China Homes Beat Stocks, Wine as Buying Frenzy Stokes Bubble

Even amid the slowest economic growth in a quarter century, China’s homeowners are enjoying returns that put other asset classes to shame - on paper, anyway.

Home prices rose the most in six years last month, defying new policies to curb excessive speculation in big cities and government warnings about asset bubbles. While gains have been most pronounced in big cities like Shenzhen, where home prices are up about 60 percent in the past year, smaller cities such as Xiamen have also seen runaway growth, where prices have risen more than 38 percent.