A Shifting Market Stings Chinese Homeowners

Danny Deng and his bride-to-be dreamed of their lives together as they walked through the showroom for a Shanghai housing project in September. Pooling his own and his parents’ savings, a loan from his boss, and a 1.1 million yuan ($172,000) mortgage, he bought an apartment and secured his fiancée’s hand. Two months later, Deng found himself facing off against a ring of security guards three rows deep wearing camouflage and carrying shields as he joined more than 100 homeowners rallying in front of the development’s sales office.

His transformation from newlywed to street protester came after the developer, China Vanke, slashed prices at the Qinglinjing complex, erasing about 20 percent of the value of Deng’s three-bedroom unit overnight. “If I’d paid for it all myself, the price cut wouldn’t bother me as much. But there’s a lifetime of my parents’ blood and sweat in it,” says Deng, a 30-year-old electrical systems salesman.