Is the Real Estate Bubble Finally Bursting in China?

I haven't been blogging much about China lately and I guess there's a lot to catch up on but this one is a bit of an eyeopener: Beijing real estate prices plunge 27% in one month (ZeroHedge). Oddly this is a bit at terms with a WSJ blogging entry from today:

Through its official mouthpieces, China has in recent days conspicuously stepped up its rhetoric–and in some cases its actions–on its largely unsuccessful campaign to rein in the country’s stubbornly high property prices.

In a prominently displayed article that was also carried on the Xinhua News Agency’s website, the People’s Daily reported Wednesday on a top-level official property inspection team’s arrival in Hangzhou, the capital city of the affluent eastern province of Zhejiang.

The article quoted Yun Xiaosu, a vice minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources, as telling the Zhejiang officials that “the central government is of the view that the problem, which chiefly involves urban housing, has already affected the overall situation.”

“We must be determined to resolve the property price issue while reining in inflation,” Yun said.

[...] It’s been more than a year since Beijing vowed to keep the country’s increasingly unaffordable property prices in check. But after rolling out three rounds of tightening measures, prices remain near record levels, despite shrinking transaction volumes. This has put Beijing’s credibility to a serious test.