We have a global housing crisis. Chinese factories can solve it.

Video Description

400 million Chinese moved to cities in the past twenty years. Most of the new housing was mass-produced in factories, then shipped to local sites for final assembly. Housing affordability is hitting historic lows, all across the world. Cost of new construction is soaring across residential and commercial sectors. Raw materials are difficult to come by. There are chronic shortages of skilled labor, which further drives up costs and delays new projects. The effects on young people are devastating, as marriage rates and fertility are crashing globally. Family formation is delayed by over a decade, compared to just a generation ago. National governments are racing to find solutions, but local governments and existing homeowners push back on any efforts to build new housing. Modular buildings and houses can solve most of the problems. Construction costs fall by about two thirds, and construction time falls by more than half. Most of the skilled labor is done inside factories, reducing the need for high-cost local crews. And China's factory sector has abundant capacity, along with localized supply chains for everything involved in the construction process, to construct new housing for tens of millions of families across the world. Closing scene, Jiande Daciyan, Zhejiang Resources and links: Cost to Construct a Home Rose Significantly Over Last Two Years https://www.nahb.org/blog/2025/01/cost-of-construction-survey-2024 How Soaring Prices for Building Materials Impact Housing https://www.nahb.org/blog/2024/07/how-soaring-prices-building-materials-impact-housing DEMOGRAPHIA INTERNATIONAL HOUSING AFFORDABILITY https://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf U.S. Fertility Is Declining Due to Delayed Marriage and Childbearing https://www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/report/us-fertility-declining-due-delayed-marriage-and-childbearing The Housing Affordability Crunch https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2024/12/the-housing-affordability-crunch-deniz-igan Brookings: Make it count: Measuring our housing supply shortage https://www.brookings.edu/articles/make-it-count-measuring-our-housing-supply-shortage/ Numbeo, Cost of Living Calculator https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/calculator.jsp Wall Street Journal, The Housing Affordability Crisis Is Going Global https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/housing-affordability-crisis-europe-global-3e0d969a Navigating the Rising Tide: The Surge in Commercial Real Estate Construction Costs https://info.siteselectiongroup.com/blog/navigating-the-rising-tide-the-surge-in-commercial-real-estate-construction-costs