Chinese Governments to Start Buying Homes to Hold Off Real Estate Collapse

Share prices in China’s tottering real estate market perked up on Thursday after news that various levels of the Communist government will begin buying up excess houses, a long hoped-for stimulus that could stabilize real estate prices by cleaning up excess inventory. Some analysts doubted the government could afford to buy enough property to defuse the trillion-dollar debt bomb that threatens China’s economic future. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Thursday that the government of Hangzhou, a technology hub city and provincial capital that includes the headquarters of...