I also confirm your theories regarding Chinese real estate. I investigated this in depth, with the help of my wife and relatives up there on the East-side as I was wanting to purchase some property there. The thing that scared me the most is something you did not really mention directly in your post. Apartments are being flipped at huge profit every 6 to 12 months, sure, but what is scary is that nobody is living in them. It's all 100% pure speculation on a scale that my mind is not even able to comprehend.

The moment the gains hit 0% or less and the buyers dry up, there will be entire suburbs the size of medium European cities, packed with empty high-rise apartment blocks and nothing else. The owners, who live with their mothers and uncles and third cousins in squalor and who thus cannot really afford the apartments will be left with a big problem on their hands.

Land and property development has so far been one of very few successful businesses of the local governments and their powerful officials since the beginning of 10th 5-year planning period (2000 - 2005) --- imagine a gigantic entitlement program by a US state to grant unlimited land development and building rights to every local city council member, city manager, municipal judge, sheriff and deputy, and support them with abundant bank credit. The obvious end result would be a run-away property bubble. That is what the major cities in China are heading for.

But look beyond the headlines and you'll find that China's 1.3 billion people are actually buying relatively little. Although the mainland's population is four times that of the U.S., Chinese consumers last year spent just 12% of what Americans did, figures investment bank UBS (UBS ). And private consumption as a share of gross domestic product in China is falling, to less than 40% today from about 48% in 2000.

Prying open the wallets of tightfisted folks like the Xus is emerging as the hottest political topic in Beijing. Although the economy is still expanding at 10%-plus annually, China's economic mandarins are concerned that the country's growth depends too much on its soaring exports and investment in ever more factories and luxury high-rises. Exports leave the Middle Kingdom vulnerable to potential downturns in the U.S. and Europe while causing trade tensions with Washington. And too much investment threatens overcapacity in industries from steel to autos.