Hacker News Reader

>China is a command economy. There are issues with housing in China but they're far less severe. Hoarding of property basically doesn't happen. China considers housing to be a public right, which it is.

How do you come to that conclusion? As far as I understand it it's the complete opposite, housing is basically the only way the Chinese can invest. Hoarding is rampant, those who got in early have several properties, the rest nothing.

View on HN

Because China has a dual housing system to ensure availability of affordable housing, something almost nonexistent in the West (other than Vienna).

Yes people invest in housing. That's not the point. The point is China has a policy goal of making sure people have access to housing, something again almost nonexistent in the West.

All of the West has social housing subsidised by the government. A quick Google tells me most of Western Europe has a much higher percentage of people living in social housing than China.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com