[Animats]

> Of course, most US mortgages are taken out on housing units that actually exist.

Construction is usually financed by a construction loan, at a higher rate than a mortgage, and the builder is the borrower. But not always. Here are some US failures from the 2008 housing crash.[1]

China has an unusual problem - the Party really, really doesn't like elections. For anything. But China has buyable apartments, which work like condominiums. Some organization has to run the building and maintain the common areas. That led to the creation of homeowners' associations with elected officials. This got party officials upset, and now efforts are being made to make HOAs subordinate to the local Communist Party units.[2]

[1] https://www.mortgagefit.com/construction/loan-default.html

[2] https://ebrary.net/153835/law/condominium_china