That said, no doubt there are declines to come in the Chinese property market.
http://www.economicsjunkie.com/beijing-property-prices-plung...
It's possible that there are significant seasonal fluctuations in the market.
That said, the three-month average is still significantly negative: "Beijing property prices rose 0.4% m/m in February, 0.8% in January and 0.2% in December". And word on the street is that it's getting a lot harder to sell property.
I'd be interested to see a graph with average housing price data stretching back for the past few years.
> That said, no doubt there are declines to come in the
> Chinese property market.
You have no doubt - have you taken a position in order to profit from the certainty? If not - is it possible you have doubts?
This is something that the Chinese government wouldn't mind too much either because the rise in commodity prices beyond a certain point (and we're getting pretty close) will cause political disruptions- which is the absolute last thing that the government will accept.
There was a confluence of factors that drove the unrest these past few months in the middle east, but one of the biggest was the sharp increase in commodity prices, especially food and basic supplies.
That's why hedge funds outperform on average.
'Normal' Western financial doctrine doesn't apply in China's mercantilist 'market' (in quotes, because it's sufficiently different from what is considered a 'market' in the West that one can wonder if they're comparable).