Investors are holding their breath as the world witness the gigantic China property bubble deflate. Last week all eyes are on Evergrande to see whether China’s most indebted developer will default. The company is due to pay US$83.5 million in interest on September 23 and another US$47.5 million on September 29. It is nothing but a dead cat bounce A day before the … [Read more...]
Who’s fueling the housing bubble?
Covid-19 is a man-made catastrophe spread by our ignorance, recklessness and stubbornness. The pandemic unveiled the weaknesses in our social norms and cultural practices. It also exposed the problems in government systems all over the world, particularly in healthcare, housing, finance and infrastructure. Times are tough. An unknown future is frightening. But no matter … [Read more...]
Lessons learned from the fall of bitcoin
Last Friday, the cryptocurrency market suffered an irrational sell-off. An estimated $115 billion worth of different digital coins were wiped off in a single day. What happened to bitcoin? In less than 13 hours, the price of bitcoin plunged 15 percent to USD7,700, before bouncing back to the USD9,000 level on Saturday. As I am writing this, the price of bitcoin … [Read more...]
When the music stops playing
Last week, Centaline Property Agency announced that it is temporarily closing its operations in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, after 11 years in the local market. Centaline is the biggest property agency in Shenzhen. At its peak, the market leader expands into a full force of 380 branches, employing more than a thousand agents. But that is before the Chinese … [Read more...]