Chinese Real Estate Los Angeles: Downtown Condo Market Cools as Foreign and Domestic Investors Pull Back

China-funded development of super luxury Metropolis condo highrise with Indigo hotel

REAL ESTATE NEWS

The LA Loft Blog recently reported that Chinese companies are pulling out of Downtown Los Angeles as real estate developer Greenland decides not to complete the last building in the Metropolis condo complex. As other expensive projects are shelved amid construction non-payment lawsuits, mainland China cannot hide its economic woes. OceanWide Plaza megaproject sits uncompleted while financially strapped Mainland China developer quietly seeks a buy-out.

Bloomberg reported recently that Los Angeles condo sales have cooled as Chinese capital stays at home. The #realestate market in downtown Los Angeles is taking a hit as #chinese cash dries up. Condo sales plunged 31% in the third quarter from a year earlier. Chinese and other foreign buyers had made more than 25% of the purchases in downtown Los Angeles in recent years, but tightened restrictions on capital flowing out of China have recently hampered the market. As the trade war between the U.S. and China approaches its second anniversary, Beijing is making it tougher to shift money abroad, imposing capital controls to help stabilize its currency. That’s weighed on the real estate market in cities including #losangeles, New York City, San Francisco and Vancouver.

California Condos Cooling

Bloomberg reports confirm earlier Loft Blog articles on Downtown L.A. condo prices having fallen from a peak in early 2018. Restaurants, shopping, entertainment and transportation infrastructure has attracted nearly 50,000 new residents since 2000. Tens of thousands of new homes have been built, while thousands of new apartment and condos are still under construction. This includes thousands of new luxury high-rise units. These expensive upscale condos are suffering the most as mainland China is hit hard by communist capital controls, tariff battles and economic uncertainty. Investors and other prospective home buyers don’t like the value of today’s relatively high Downtown condo prices.

China’s Fake Economy

The South China Morning Post reported that China is proving to be mired in significant inaccurate financial reporting. China’s economic census has uncovered bunches of fake data. As China’s cash has dried, corporate has borrowing soared. Local Chinese officials of Guanghan and other areas have been found to have gone to extraordinary lengths to manipulate raw data to obscure the real financial health of the economy. They reported growth of 9% while the real growth was likely closer to 0%.

American’s and other financial connections have access to some of the true data, which gets easier to see as the financial tide goes down to reveal the naked truth of financial struggles.

CNBC reports that China’s corporate borrowing has shot up while cash flows deteriorate. China’s cash flows have deteriorated quickly, and new orders continue to fall. Shadow banking is making a resurgence as the CPC Communist Party of China attempts new crackdowns on bankers. China’s cash flows have rapidly deteriorated recently as fourth quarter 2019 late payables and deliverables skyrocketed to the worst levels ever recorded. China’s woes are likely to worsen before the get better because new orders continue to fall. Corporate borrowing has risen to unprecedented rates as business loan applications in China shot to an all-time high, with more than 30% of manufacturing, retail, services and real estate developers needing to borrow money.

China’s communist dictator always has plenty of lowly individuals to pin the blame on. Several bankers have been sentenced to death recently.

Trade War Affecting China, Reviving Trend of Shadow Banking

Borrowing rose in every sector this quarter. China saw overall export orders fall in the second half of 2019, as American tariffs on Chinese goods took effect. With the U.S. and China entering a trade truce this December, the President Trump’s Phase One China deal is expected to help reduce China’s economic freefall.

Mainland stocks tumble as China cut tariffs on over 850 products

CNBC reports that mainland Chinese stocks have been tumbling. The Shanghai Composite is down more than 10% since February 2018, and down more than 25% from its peak in May 2015. China just announced a few days ago that it will lower import tariffs on over 850 products as part of the Phase One trade deal talks. The trade war armistice may be too little too late for China. The communist-backed semiconductor fund has announced plans to reduce holdings in some tech firms, according to a Reuters report. Tech stocks, then broader stocks have just dropped.

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Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog and LAcondoInfo.com with information provided by Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, BRE#01889449 We are not associated with the homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact (213) 880-9910 or visit LAcondoInfo.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.

Real Estate is Dead

Is real estate dead?

REAL ESTATE NEWS

Compared to the brisk real estate market of two years ago, real estate in Los Angeles and many other U.S. markets has fallen down and in critical condition. Fewer people are moving, as most prefer to stay put while prices are at all time highs, and many economists feel that a recession is looming. While real estate will never die permanently, the industry is already seeing a world-wide slowdown, which could turn into a panic-stricken sell-off when the next big recession hits. #realestateisdead

Most local real estate agents are going broke, with some even joining the ranks of the homeless. The number of real estate transactions in and around the lofty neighborhoods of Downtown Los Angeles and Lincoln Heights has fallen by 75% in the last year. Home prices are down more than 4%. Prospective home buyers say that they are in no hurry, content to wait for many months or years before making a home purchase. VIDEO

Even the billionaires are diving for cover. The developer of some of of the largest developments in California, OceanWide Holdings, has run into financial issues, deciding to call it quits and to unload many of its properties, including the half-finished OceanWide Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles. The flat-fee brokerage Purplebricks announced a withdrawal from the United States in July, two months after closing its operations in Australia.

Some chart watchers say that the recent political drama has been designed to keep our eyes off of the real news. The real numbers show a weak market that may soon bring a repeat of 2007. San Francisco is seeing drops in the real estate market. The San Jose area saw a decline of 22.2% from last year. Manhattan has been crashing for three years.

Some markets are up. Sales people and the real estate industry continue to put their best spin on things, but the numbers are clear. Nation-wide sales of previously owned single-family homes and attached properties both fell from October to November, according to recent data by the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors.

Single-family home sales fell 13% from 1,890 in October to 1,644 in November, while the number of attached properties sold dipped by 24.1% – from 980 in October to 744 last month. Sales of both property types continue to trend down from the housing market’s 2019 high water mark in May.

Those who are spending big bucks on renting the same place for many years should be aware that renters are usually the biggest losers of all because they stand virtually no chance of getting any of their money back. With time, home owners find positive long-term returns even when they purchase at the top of the market.

Google Trends shows that the very topic of real estate appears quite lifeless:

The whole subject of Real Estate is a fallen topic

Real estate prices in Downtown Los Angeles and many other areas are facing substantial downward pressure. This already unstable situation has a major risk of colliding with a major recessionary down cycle sooner rather than later. We are in no way saying that real estate is completely dead or permanently dead. There are always bright spots and a bright future for golden California real estate, especially if the state gets a handle on high taxes and homeless issues. At the moment, the financial gurus agree that we face an uncertain global economic outlook. The numbers show that now may be among the most lucrative time to sell before real estate gets hit with a big global recession wallop.

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Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog and LAcondoInfo.com with information provided by Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, BRE#01889449 We are not associated with the homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact (213) 880-9910 or visit LAcondoInfo.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.