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June 24, 2013 at 08:40 AM
Probably shouldn’t have triple-mortgaged the house in Dongguan in order to redo the condo in Tianjin with bamboo flooring.
If it sounds vaguely familiar, it’s what too many Americans experienced in 2008. Now it’s China’s turn. The housing market there is in turmoil, reminiscient of the subprime issues faced in this country, according to Mark Mobius.
While China’s housing market problems are similar in scale to those faced during the U.S. subprime mortgage bubble, it won’t lead to another Lehman Brothers-style crash, Mobius, the emerging-market fund manager at Franklin Templeton, told CNBC on Monday.
“The similarities could not be denied,” Mobius said, but since Chinese banks are owned by the government, they will not be allowed to fail.
The network notes investor fears have been heightened after a credit crunch last week led to a spike in yields on interbank loans. Some analysts have pointed out the credit crunch was spiked by the Chinese central bank’s tightening of liquidity, rather than a loss in confidence among banks.
Still, nervousness led to big drop in Chinese stocks on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite tumbling 5.3% to its lowest levels since early December, CNBC reports.
