Economics
China Plan to Create New Shenzhen Spurs Speculative Rampage
- Government creates Xiongan economic zone in Hebei province
- Cement and construction stocks soar, buyers flock to property
This article is for subscribers only.
It didn’t take long for news that China would set up an economic zone near Beijing to touch off an investor frenzy.
Within 24 hours of Saturday’s announcement that the government would create the Xiongan area in Hebei province -- in the same spirit that Shenzhen and Shanghai’s Pudong was built -- hordes of prospective buyers had thronged to the region. Highways were clogged as they came to purchase real estate, with some camping outside property agent offices overnight, according to local media reports. On Sunday the government banned all property sales in the zone to stem speculation, according to the National Business Daily.