Ms. Xu has lived in a room in a high-rise apartment in the southern Chinese city of Guilin for the past six months. She purchased the apartment three years ago after being drawn to it by advertisements praising the riverfront views and the city’s pure air.
Her living circumstances, however, are far from what was promised: there is no running water or gas, and the walls are not painted. She walks up and down multiple flights of stairs each day while toting heavy water jugs outdoors that have been filled with a hose.
Ms. Xu, 55, spoke to Reuters from a room that was otherwise vacant but for a bed wrapped in a mosquito net, a few basics, and some empty bottles on the floor. ‘All the family’s savings were invested in this property,’ she said. She declined to give her full name, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
Ms. Xu and around 20 other buyers use a temporary outdoor bathroom in the Xiulan County Mansion, and they congregate there during the day at a table in the central courtyard area.
They are a part of a movement of homebuyers throughout China who have moved into what they describe as ‘rotting’ apartments, either to put pressure on developers and authorities to finish them or out of necessity due to the severe real estate slump in the nation.
According to a July estimate from the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute, blocked projects made up 3.85% of the country’s housing market in the first half of 2022, or 231 million square metres.
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