Wanda's Wang warns on property bubble

One of China’s richest property magnates, Wang Jianlin, warned this week that his country’s property market was the “biggest bubble in history.” But home buyers in key Chinese cities in September showed scant regard for such warnings, maintaining a frenetic pace of purchases. Preliminary data for the month show that residential floor space sold in 52 cities rose 26% in the first 25 days of September (see the first chart), in line with August’s 27% increase and higher than July’s 13% expansion, according to data collected from local land bureaus by NSBO, a China-focused investment bank. The Financial Times Confidential Research China Real Estate index rose to its second highest reading this year after a record spike in March, showing that sales, inquiries and prices all rose sharply in September.