How China's Going to Try to Control Its Massive Housing Bubble
- Officials may contain price gains with credit, buying curbs
- Home sale slide may show the risks of property cooling efforts
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China’s efforts to cool the property market may lead to the first decline in home sales since 2014 next year, highlighting the risks as officials try to battle bubbles without tanking the economy.
As a government campaign tackling excessive leverage and financial risks chokes off some sources of buyer funding, such as consumer loans, developers could also find that credit is tighter next year. As dozens of cities maintain their curbs on property sales, new mortgages have dipped and funds for building have slowed. JPMorgan Chase & Co. sees a 6 percent decline in home sales in 2018.