Another Housing Bubble?

By Ian Mathias

07/20/09 Vancouver, British Columbia “[We] must control the risk of real estate loans,” said a mystery banker. “In the first half of the year, our country’s banking loans expanded rapidly… but the loans growth has led to accumulated risks also increasing.” Our man of the moment said his banking sector had become “not prudent and impulsive” in issuing loans for new housing projects, many of which have falsified their capital levels to meet current standards. He urged lenders to “strengthen risk management” right way, before they loan themselves into poor credit positions.

So who is he? Robert Shiller, who just recently suggested another housing bubble could be in the mix? Or maybe some vintage Ben Bernanke, circa 2007? Nope… Liu Mingkang, the head of China’s version of the FDIC, said the above over the weekend at a conference in Beijing. China bulls take heed.

And at the risk of belaboring the obvious — he’s Chinese. We know what kind of exigency would get an American regulator to speak out against a bubble in the making. We imagine it’s far more politically dangerous for a member of the Chinese government to publicly go against the grain.

Ian Mathias

Ian Mathias is managing editor of The 5 Min. Forecast and AgoraFinancial.com. We discovered Ian working as a full time rock climbing guide and writing on the side. As it turns out, markets and global economics can be extreme too… at least enough to keep him around. Since working for Agora Financial, respected media outlets including Forbes.com, the Associated Press, Yahoo, and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. He received his BA from Loyola College in Maryland and is currently studying writing at the graduate level.