> "how often is eminent domain used on behalf of a private developer building for his own profit?"
If you look at Steve's photos of "nail houses", you can see that even homeowners who stand in the way of public works projects like highways are able to assert their rights successfully against the developers, including the government itself…
> "how often is eminent domain used on behalf of a private developer building for his own profit?"
If you look at Steve's photos of "nail houses", you can see that even homeowners who stand in the way of public works projects like highways are able to assert their rights successfully against the developers, including the government itself. You rarely see that in the US. So who really has more secure property rights?
> "I’m curious as to how land is titled in China."
It is nominally leased from the government, but since Chinese properties nearing the end of their lease trade at the same values as comparable properties early in their lease, the verdict of the market is that the "leases" will extend indefinitely, so effectively your Chinese "leasehold" is equivalent to US "ownership".
> "Here in the US, we’re really just renting our property from the government."
True. In fact, it's arguably worse in the US. US property taxes are typically 2%-3%, and in places as high as 9% of value, which means that you effectively have to re-buy your property from the government every 11-50 years.
Chinese property from the government is a one-time payment at the beginning of a 70-year lease. Amortizing it out, you could call that a 1.4% property "tax" (there is no actual property tax in China), but since that is also the purchase price, that means the property price would be effectively zero.
China also has lower income taxes, social security taxes, and health care costs than the US.
By every technical measure, living is arguably cheaper and freer in China.
"If you look at Steve's photos of "nail houses", you can see that even homeowners who stand in the way of public works projects like highways are able to assert their rights successfully against the developers, including the government itself. You rarely see that in the US. So who really has more secure property rights?"
I dunno. Those best positioned to know who has more secure property rights would probably the Chinese propertied classes. Revealed preference would indicate that the Chinese propertied classes take great pains to buy real estate, move funds, etc to the USA/Canada etc.. Is there some great unknown tide running in the other direction of USA propertied persons buying real estate/apartments in China? Color me skeptical.
One legacy of communism is that rich and powerful people in China are sometimes at severe risk from the state. This is not so true in the US, but you don't want to generalize blindly. Independently wealthy people in the US get better treatment from the government than commoners do. In China, they may get much worse treatment. You have to be prominent before you can disappear.
> [Land] is nominally leased from the government, but since Chinese properties nearing the end of their lease trade at the same values as comparable properties early in their lease, the verdict of the market is that the "leases" will extend indefinitely, so effectively your Chinese "leasehold" is equivalent to US "ownership".
This isn't an entirely theoretical question. Some of those 70-year leases have already expired. What happened to them?
> "how often is eminent domain used on behalf of a private developer building for his own profit?"
If you look at Steve's photos of "nail houses", you can see that even homeowners who stand in the way of public works projects like highways are able to assert their rights successfully against the developers, including the government itself. You rarely see that in the US. So who really has more secure property rights?
> "I’m curious as to how land is titled in China."
It is nominally leased from the government, but since Chinese properties nearing the end of their lease trade at the same values as comparable properties early in their lease, the verdict of the market is that the "leases" will extend indefinitely, so effectively your Chinese "leasehold" is equivalent to US "ownership".
> "Here in the US, we’re really just renting our property from the government."
True. In fact, it's arguably worse in the US. US property taxes are typically 2%-3%, and in places as high as 9% of value, which means that you effectively have to re-buy your property from the government every 11-50 years.
Chinese property from the government is a one-time payment at the beginning of a 70-year lease. Amortizing it out, you could call that a 1.4% property "tax" (there is no actual property tax in China), but since that is also the purchase price, that means the property price would be effectively zero.
China also has lower income taxes, social security taxes, and health care costs than the US.
By every technical measure, living is arguably cheaper and freer in China.
Thank you, that’s really good information.
"If you look at Steve's photos of "nail houses", you can see that even homeowners who stand in the way of public works projects like highways are able to assert their rights successfully against the developers, including the government itself. You rarely see that in the US. So who really has more secure property rights?"
I dunno. Those best positioned to know who has more secure property rights would probably the Chinese propertied classes. Revealed preference would indicate that the Chinese propertied classes take great pains to buy real estate, move funds, etc to the USA/Canada etc.. Is there some great unknown tide running in the other direction of USA propertied persons buying real estate/apartments in China? Color me skeptical.
One legacy of communism is that rich and powerful people in China are sometimes at severe risk from the state. This is not so true in the US, but you don't want to generalize blindly. Independently wealthy people in the US get better treatment from the government than commoners do. In China, they may get much worse treatment. You have to be prominent before you can disappear.
> "Is there some great unknown tide running in the other direction of USA propertied persons buying real estate/apartments in China?"
Foreigners can't buy property in much of China and foreign ownership is tightly constrained in the rest.
The Chinese know they have a good thing going on and see no reason to let "USA propertied persons" snatch it out from under them.
Too bad we weren't so perspicacious about American property.
> [Land] is nominally leased from the government, but since Chinese properties nearing the end of their lease trade at the same values as comparable properties early in their lease, the verdict of the market is that the "leases" will extend indefinitely, so effectively your Chinese "leasehold" is equivalent to US "ownership".
This isn't an entirely theoretical question. Some of those 70-year leases have already expired. What happened to them?