A housing boom in China’s wannabe “Silicon Valley” of Shenzhen risks undermining the city’s tech boom as young professionals consider moving out to avoid the highest residential prices in the country.
In the space of four decades, Shenzhen has transformed itself from a fishing village into a manufacturing center and now a tech hub - attracting top firms and young talent in sectors including technology, advertising and design.
But a property frenzy, which has driven prices up by 580 percent in the past 10 years, is beginning to weigh on the city’s competitiveness, tech firms, professionals, industry groups and officials say, just as it strives to develop new economic drivers and pull away from old-economy manufacturing.
Sounds familiar…