THIS is the moment a host of Chinese high-rises collapse one after another in just seconds after builders were believed to go broke.
Shocking footage shows 15 apartment buildings sink to the soil immediately, leaving nothing but huge clouds of dust.
The moment before a bunch of buildings implode like dominoes
They start sinking to the ground
Several of them collapse in a dramatic scene
A cloud of smoke expands into the air
Social media users speculated that the sequence of buildings were deliberately demolished because builders’ bank accounts were drained and they couldn’t afford to finish the job.
The vision now going viral is from August 2021 in Kunming, southern China, according to a Vice report.
Chinese state media Global Times also reported they were originally built for residents but were never finished.
It’s not a new phenomenon in China, where an overzealous construction boom led to huge amounts of unclaimed apartments.
Empty high-rises are strewn across eerie cities – dubbed ghost cities – after a building boom through the 2000s that ultimately wasn’t met with demand to match.
A decade-long golden run between 2004-2014 led to a doubling in Chinese house prices, which inspired local governments and developers to borrow increasing levels of cash from banks.
But after obscene levels of debt emerged, President Xi Jinping launched a huge crackdown.
The housing bubble now appears to be blowing with developers in too much debt to complete their projects.
Consequently, buildings are either demolished or sit empty like scenes from an apocalyptic movie.
The country is also littered with half-built stadiums and abandoned theme parks.
Building work at Guangzhou Evergrande football stadium was halted due to a lack of cash – with pictures showing cranes sitting abandoned and dormant over the half built structure.
And a elsewhere a complex of hotels, theme parks and tourist attractions in north China’s Hebei province remains unfinished after the real estate company went bankrupt after.
Roger Garside, Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, previously told The Sun China was facing a “debt mountain”.
Infamously, big-time developer Evergrande in 2021 collapsed with the company having a huge $300billion in liabilities.
It led to dozens more stalled projects across the country.
There was even a 100,000-seat stadium in the works to provide a new home for Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande.
Mr Garside added in a previous Sun feature: “The Communist regime has known full well for over a decade the risks that have been building in its economy.
“It has been relying excessively on debt to fuel growth since 2008, a reliance which is most strikingly illustrated by the property sector, until it now has a debt mountain of a height such that no nation has ever succeeded in reducing it significantly without either inflation or recession.
“Its return on investment has been steadily declining. More and more of its economic activity has been unprofitable.”
Chinese President Xi JinpingAP
GettyAn unfinished stadium in China[/caption]
One of the country’s so-called ghost citiesGetty
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