Ms. Xu has lived in a room in a high-rise apartment in the southern city of Guilin in China for the past six months. She purchased the apartment three years ago after being drawn to it by advertisements praising the riverside views and the city’s pure air.
Her living circumstances, however, are far from what was promised: there is no running water or gas, and the walls are not painted. She walks up and down multiple flights of stairs each day while carrying heavy water bottles filled with a hose outside.
The Xiulan County Mansion complex’s Xu, 55, spoke to a news agency from a room that was otherwise vacant except for a bed wrapped in a mosquito net, a few basics, and some empty bottles on the floor. “All the family’s savings were invested in this property,” she said. She cited the sensitivity of the subject in declining to reveal her full name.
Xu and around 20 other purchasers use a temporary outdoor bathroom in the Xiulan County Mansion, and share a makeshift outdoor toilet and gather during the day at a table and benches in the central courtyard area.
Rotting Movement by house purchasers in China
They are a part of a movement of house purchasers in China who have moved into what they label “rotting” flats either to put pressure on developers and authorities to finish them or out of necessity due to the severe real estate recession in the nation.
According to a July estimate from the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute, delayed projects made up 2.31 million square meters, or 3.85%, of the country’s housing market in the first half of 2022.
While some local governments have established rescue funds to support the real estate industry, purchasers like Xu who had paid deposits and are responsible for mortgages are still waiting for action.
Social media has fueled an unprecedented wave of collective disobedience brought on by the growth of unfinished flats. In late June, hundreds of homebuyers in at least 100 locations threatened to stop making mortgage payments in protest of the construction’s standstill.
According to Yan Yuejin, research director of Shanghai E-House, 90% of new homes acquired in China are bought “off plans” while still being built, making the broader real estate market very susceptible to incidents of unfinished flats.
