【Financial Times】China’s Belt and Road property boom cools off

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https://www.ft.com/content/49bdc916-5033-11e9-b401-8d9ef1626294

A global real estate boom fueled by China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative has slowed to a crawl, as Beijing seeks to rein in rogue building projects across the developing world. So far this year, less than $1bn has been invested into overseas commercial property projects by Chinese developers in designated BRI countries. That puts this year’s total on track to be far below last year’s figure of about $14bn, and marks another sharp drop from the peak of $23.6bn in 2016, according to data compiled by Washington-based consulting firm RWR Advisory. When China announced its $1tn plan to build bridges, roads and ports in emerging markets starting in 2013, it also unleashed a wave of investments into hotels, office buildings and casinos from Mongolia to Montenegro — an unintended consequence of the plan.

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Don Weinland in Beijing 2019-04-01