TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Many wealthy Chinese and Taiwanese are selling off their assets at low prices due to reported disillusionment with the China market following the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, with luxury homes in Shanghai plummeting by as much as 40% in value.
Taiwanese businessmen are said to be selling their restaurants, hotels, and other assets for cash. In a Radio Free Asia report published Tuesday (Oct. 25), Shanghai real estate broker Zhao Ting (趙婷) was cited as saying that "people are dumping houses, a lot of luxury homes are down 30% to 40% from the previous market price. They all want to run away and fear that it will be too late if they don't sell now."
Screenshots from the report show that a large penthouse in Shanghai's Chateau Pinnacle (華山夏都苑), Carina Lau's (劉嘉玲) former residence, was last month selling for 60 million yuan (US$8.37 million) but the asking price has now dropped to 35.99 million yuan. In addition, sellers said the price is "negotiable."
A luxury penthouse in the Finance Street Rongyu Community that last month was selling for 55 million yuan, was going for 30 million yuan on Sunday (Oct. 23).
Zhao Ting claimed that most of the wealthy people in Shanghai have already left China or have transferred their funds overseas. He added that the current batch of people selling luxury properties "did not see the situation clearly" until the closing of the 20th National Congress.
According to Zhao, there are two reasons for this exodus: "One, is that with the whole leadership team, there are no longer any illusions of hope for the future. Second, everyone realizes that the dynamic zero-COVID policy will continue to develop."
The report also cited Zhou Ning (周寧), a real estate broker in Hubei, as saying that many wealthy people in Wuhan, Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang have sold off their assets. Zhou said that Taiwanese businessmen have also begun to sell their businesses and cash out.
"I have friends who bought hotels and restaurants from Taiwanese. Taiwanese in China have decided to sell assets because they feel that China's policy orientation has changed," Zhou said.
