True. I was actually referring more to the Tier 1 and some Tier 2 cities. There's still a lot of room to run in some cities further down the tiers. The main thing to watch is the apartment price rises vs the rise in incomes. When the former completely outstrips the latter by orders of magnitude, trouble is down the road somewhere. This happens around the world, just like gravity. There are no exceptions and this will happen in China also.

Having seen this from the development side, one of the biggest problems has been the cost of acquiring land rights. By the time the developer pays the government for this (official price plus whatever extortionate backhanders are involved), then add in the cost of relocation of existing residents which is normally 2nd largest cost, there is no equation that financially makes sense other than to build higher-end housing which a huge proportion of the locals that actually need new housing, can't afford. It's a vicious and self-perpetuating cycle. On the non-residential side, market metrics and due diligence as one would do in the west before Go/No-Going a decision, is not a driver. Politics and being able to crony up some lending from friendly bankers is. Which is why you see so many projects that make absolutely no sense.