Pudong proves real-estate pundits wrong - Sam Crispin

Sam Crispin

Ten years ago real-estate expert Sam Crispin was seen by his peers as a contrarian, with a bullish report on the Shanghai mega district Pudong. Today Pudong has become a convincing success of what was erstwhile seen as state-engineered lunacy, Sam Crispin tells in the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal:

Sam Crispin's bullish reports on Pudong a decade ago made the property analyst a contrarian. 

Now, as director of China real estate at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, Mr. Crispin says growing talk about China's unoccupied "ghost cities" reminds him of the doubts many had about Pudong. "A lot of the commentary frankly was quite similar to the ideas that are being bandied about for the property market today," he says. "The reasoning is quite similar—who's going to occupy all those buildings?" 

Mr. Crispin argues that the lesson of Pudong is how badly Chinese demand was underestimated. Real-estate development, he says, tends to produce "sensationalist" viewpoints. 

Within weeks of Mr. Deng's 1990 endorsement, the government unveiled a blueprint and earmarked billions of dollars to pay for it.

More in The Wall Street Journal.

Sam Crispin is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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