This post by Michael Pettis offers an interesting and detailed perspective on some of the features of the Chinese apartment financing model that make it highly leveraged in ways that I at least had not fully appreciated. In particular, the Chinese apartment buyers pay in full prior to construction of their apartment but the developers seem to have free reign to use that financing outside the strict confines of building the apartment the buyers have paid for.
The Economist “Money Talks” podcast also has an episode going over the same ground.
Both recommended.
Tony – From the Outside
From the outside 