![\"China](\"http:\/\/static.businessinsider.com\/image\/4b436efc0000000000d11564-304-235\/china-gold.png\")
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In a previous post, I mentioned a CCTV News report that China is seeing a recent surge of gold buying, as local investors nervous over a possible property bubble look for an alternative place to stash their cash. Here are the links to that report, both in text<\/a> and video<\/a> form. You can also watch my comments on the report here<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to CCTV, sales of gold for the May Day holiday in Beijing are up 70% over last year, and that sales of gold bars has doubled. It notes that May is a popular season for weddings, which makes it a peak gold-buying period, but attributes this year’s increase to jitters over property prices:<\/p>\n Mr. Zhang had planned to invest his money in the property market. But on second thought, he changed his mind . . . [Zhang] said, “The recent measures have been reining in tightly. So I changed my investment plan. I believe the gold market is more stable. It could also avoid investment risks and prevent the threat of the inflation.”<\/p>\n Another CCTV report this Tuesday <\/a>suggests the shift towards gold is not limited to Beijingers, but also includes investors from Wenzhou, a southeast coastal city famous for its itinerant entrepreneurs:<\/p>\n Housing speculators from Wenzhou City in southeastern China are switching their money from property into gold following government restrictions on the real estate market Tao Xingyi, president of Beijing-based Jinding Group, a company specializing in high-end gold trading and investment, said the company’s customers have increased by 300 — 400 percent recently . . . Tao said that within one month, three groups of Wenzhou investors made purchases of gold from his company worth more than 10 million yuan.<\/p>\n I have no way of verifying these reports, but as I mentioned in my televised comments, I find it very interesting given the analogy I’ve always drawn between the way Chinese invest in empty apartments as a “store of value” and investment in non-productive assets like gold. So it might very well make sense that, if they are no longer so certain stockpiled real estate will act as a reliable store of value, they would opt for gold as an attractive alternative.<\/p>\n I was back on CCTV’s BizAsia program on Tuesday, talking about three topics: <\/p>\n You can watch a mini-clip of my comments on China’s US Treasury holdings here<\/a>. For the others, you’ll have to check out the video of the complete program here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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