[thaumasiotes]

They always will be. The Chinese place much more value on owning (as opposed to renting) than other people do.

That is why the rhetorical enemy of communism in China was "landlords". It's why a fundamental platform of the current CCP is that landownership is illegal. ("the land belongs to the country", 土地是国家的)

[bobthepanda]

It's also because there aren't really alternative investment forms. Investing abroad is heavily restricted. Local investment markets are not mature enough for there to be Chinese equivalents of 401ks. And local pensions aren't great.

Housing is pretty much the only thing in China that has generated positive return on investment.

[thaumasiotes]

That may be so, but you can watch the price of owning relative to renting spike in any area that experiences an influx of Chinese.