Rising Wages Pose Dilemma for China – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | May 20, 2013

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• Rising Wages Pose Dilemma for China

  China is showing rapid increases in wages and signs of resilience in hiring despite slowing growth, a reassuring sign for leaders seeking to put more money in the pockets of ordinary Chinese, but a trend that could prove difficult to sustain as countries nearby threaten to encroach on China’s manufacturing dominance.

  Chinese private-sector wages rose 14% in 2012, data showed Friday, good news overall for Beijing’s push to make consumer spending a more important part of growth. But higher labor costs also hurt business profitability and export competitiveness—which could pose its own risks to the economic recovery.

• China Housing Bubble Cools, But Prices Still Higher

  China’s property market cooled a bit in April, but home prices are still on the rise, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday.

  Of the 70 major Chinese cities tracked by NBS, 67 saw home prices increase in April compared to March, with the highest growth rate at 2.1%, down from the 3.2% in March. All the first-tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing saw their price hikes slow, but they are still higher than before.

• China’s wealthy paying cash for Eastside luxury homes

  Real estate agent Joseph Ho climbed the gilded staircase of a Hunts Point mansion listed for almost $5 million, shooting video on his iPad and narrating in Chinese.

  Buyers from China have inquired about the 5,540-square-foot house. Ho made sure to capture a blue-sky fresco in the formal dining room — “It’ll remind them of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas” — and a yacht-ready dock on Cozy Cove.

• China Investors Wary Over Slow Start To Second Quarter

  The iShares FTSE China (FXI) exchange traded fund may be up over 1% on Friday, but wait a minute. Investors finally have a reason to be bearish on the world’s No. 2 economy. The second quarter is off to a modest, unsustainable start.

  April economic data point to generally soft economic momentum, Barclays Capital analysts said in a note to clients on Friday. Industrial production growth improved, but in part this reflects base effects. Headline investment was supported by the red hot property market, and the recovery in consumption is still not solid, given that retail sales were helped by gold sales.

• Chinese investors snapping-up ‘one chateau per month’

  From the beginning of 2011, a leading Bordeaux real estate agent says, an average of one Bordeaux chateau per month has been sold to a Chinese investor.

  Asian-owned properties in Bordeaux now number 40 to 50 – a figure that, given the size of the region, is a mere ‘blip on the radar’, estate agent Maxwell-Storrie-Baynes says.

This list is updated daily, so tune in again tomorrow for more up to date information.