China’s property market – worth seven times that of the U.S., based on the total value of new homes sold – is weakening… again.

China’s new home sales hit US$1.69 trillion last year, as an estimated 22 million Chinese moved from rural areas into cities (that’s like the entire populations of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina and Kansas moving to the city).

A total of 1.44 billion square meters of apartments and condominiums were sold – the equivalent of 5.76 million new homes, assuming the size of an average American suburban house (last year, 614,000 new homes were sold in the U.S.).

But a couple of years of breakneck growth has caused the average price of the developed property (i.e., condominiums and residential apartments) in China to jump 18 percent since July 2015. In the biggest cities of Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, prices increased more than 50 percent.

Adding fuel to soaring real estate prices are Chinese investors speculating for short-term gain, considering property prices in most cities are rising at least twice as fast as the 5.5 percent average mortgage rate

Kim Iskyan, Co-Founder & Publisher, Stansberry Churchouse Research

Chinese real estate investors are not tired of breaking records. Last year, their investments in real estate abroad increased by more than half, by 53%, and reached, according to the international real estate agency JLL from Singapore, $ 33 billion. Chinese businesses are mainly interested in hotels, office buildings and land for construction.

The second year in a row, the main place for the investment of Chinese investment in real estate in America. The US accounted for 14.3 billion Chinese money or 43.3%. Behind the States are Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia and the United Kingdom. The largest deal of the year on the acquisition of real estate was the purchase by Chinese company Anbang Insurance Group’s from Blackstone for $ 6.5 billion Strategic Hotels and Resorts, a company that owns 18 luxury hotels in America.