Japan and China: mad investments make sense for locals

What do the booming Chinese property market and the staid world of Japanese government bonds have in common? Perhaps more than you'd think.

What do the booming Chinese property market and the staid world of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) have in common? Perhaps more than you'd think.

In this week'sMoneyWeek Asia, I looked at Chinese property. Put briefly, I concluded that local investors buying apartments to keep them unoccupied in the hope of selling them at a higher price in a few years time may not be as daft as it looks, given the limited choices they have for alternative investments.

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Cris Sholto Heaton

Cris Sholto Heaton is an investment analyst and writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2006 and was managing editor of the magazine between 2016 and 2018. He is especially interested in international investing, believing many investors still focus too much on their home markets and that it pays to take advantage of all the opportunities the world offers. He often writes about Asian equities, international income and global asset allocation.

Cris began his career in financial services consultancy at PwC and Lane Clark & Peacock, before an abrupt change of direction into oil, gas and energy at Petroleum Economist and Platts and subsequently into investment research and writing. In addition to his articles for MoneyWeek, he also works with a number of asset managers, consultancies and financial information providers.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Investment Management Certificate, as well as degrees in finance and mathematics. He has also studied acting, film-making and photography, and strongly suspects that an awareness of what makes a compelling story is just as important for understanding markets as any amount of qualifications.