China's Empty Homes Crisis: Even 1.4 Billion People Can't Fill the Void

A former Chinese official has stated that China's population of 1.4 billion would not be enough to fill the country's empty homes, highlighting the ongoing real estate crisis in China. With at least 65 million vacant properties in the country, China has relied on real estate development as a means of economic growth, resulting in an excess supply of empty houses and ghost cities. The overdevelopment has led to stalled or abandoned projects, such as the abandoned development in Shenyang, where farmers now roam freely around empty mansions. Efforts to revive ghost towns, like Ordos, have had limited success, with concerns of creating new ghost towns if new development resumes.