The country's real-estate speculators are buying30 cheap properties at a time, sight unseen.
中国的炒房者们在未事先实地考察的情况下一次性购买了30处廉价的房产。
A vacant blighted home is seen on West GrandBoulevard, a once thriving neighborhood, in Detroit. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)
一间位于林荫大道西的空置破旧大屋映入了我们的眼帘，该房子坐落在曾经喧闹繁华的底特律小区内。
Downtown Detroit has long been one of thenation's worst housing markets. Home values have plummeted. Vacancies abound.And foreclosure numbers are through the roof. Not that that's surprising; who'dwant to live in a neighborhood with soaring unemployment and the highest rateof violent crime in the U.S.?
The bad news for Detroiters is that the city'sbankruptcy will likely only deepen the decay of its downtown housing market.
底特律的破产给本市带来的负面影响将有可能加剧其市区房产市场的衰败。
That might deter most prospective home buyers.But some look at Detroit's hard times and see profit.
也许那会让众多未来想置业的人士望而却步。但有些人洞察到了底特律的困难时期并认为有利可图。
Specifically, bargain-hunting Chinese investors.Since the bankruptcy was announced on July 18, talk of snapping up Detroithousing for a pittance has picked up on Sina Weibo, reports Sina Finance. Andit appears to be translating into real interest; Caroline Chen, a real estatebroker in Troy, Michigan, says she's received "tons of calls" frompeople in mainland China.
"I have people calling and saying, 'I'mserious -- I wanna buy 100, 200 properties,'" she tells Quartz, notingthat one of her colleagues recently sold 30 properties to a Chinese buyer."They say 'We don't need to see them. Just pick the good ones.'"
China has the most expensive housing on theplanet. Plus, capital controls make it difficult to invest large sums inoverseas stocks or property. That's why when a CCTV broadcast aired in March --after the emergency takeover was announced -- saying that for the price of apair of leather shoes, you could buy two Detroit houses, Chinese investors gotexcited.
Millions commented on the CCTV post aboutDetroit on Sina Weibo. As one user put it, "700,000 people, quiet, cleanair, no pollution, democracy -- what are you waiting for?"
This wasn't just talk. Wei Kefei, an organizerof a Beijing property fair, told the Global Times in March that deals werepicking up. "Some people did rush to buy houses in Detroit, betting on theU.S. economic recovery, which they believe will boost development in the autoindustry," he said. A Mandarin-speaking Detroit broker reported getting 3AM phone calls from interested investors. Detroit mania was enough that China'sMinistry of Foreign Affairs warned citizens about investing risks. And it had apoint; there are slews of hidden costs that buyers take on.
Though Chinese realtors had planned tours of thearea in late spring, those were cancelled when most investors didn't receivevisas, says Chen. Therefore, many Detroit home purchases by Chinese investorsare sight unseen. "It's like buying the lotto," says Chen, explainingthat mainland investors see the chance the property will appreciate as worththe dirt-cheap price. "But I've been in the Detroit area for 35 years. 35years ago downtown Detroit was like this, and it's not getting better."
That becomes more apparent to those who dovisit. Chen says that Chinese investors sometimes pick up and fly to Detroitwithout notice and call her to say, "Hey, I'm at the airport."Because Chen is unwilling to risk her safety for a $3 commission on a homesale, she recommends that they hire a taxi to drive them through downtownDetroit. So far, most haven't called her back. "Once they see the scaryarea, they give up," she says.那些来到这里参观过的人更会感同身受。Chen说道，来自