This photo taken on July 4, 2023 shows a general view of residential buildings in Hegang city in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province. China’s real estate industry grew at lightning speed from the late 90s, and was a major component of the country’s turbocharged economic expansion. But with growth slowing and debts swelling, authorities cut off access to easy loans in 2020, pummelling the sector and causing a record-breaking slump last year.
A wave of young Chinese are choosing to invest in dirt-cheap real estate in declining and remote industrial regions, ditching China’s modern, expensive metropolises. Photo: AFP