Sky Scraper Index

More good news for China.  I have seen a number of negative reports (car sales down, etcetera), but had not bothered to pile on the posts.

This one I thought was a little different.

Forecasting “Bubbles”: Barclays “Skscraper Index” implies that China may be on its way down…
Brazilian Bubble, 16 January 2012 (hat tip: here via  NC )

Just so you know, of all of the world’s skyscrapers under construction, China is home to 53% of them.  According to Barclay’s Skyscraper index, China seems to be on its way to a financial crisis. In the report presented below, the British bank says that there is an “unhealthy correlation” between the building of skyscrapers and subsequent financial crashes…

… often the world’s tallest buildings are simply the edifice of a broader skyscraper building boom, reflecting a widespread misallocation of capital and an impending economic correction…

Examples include the Empire State building, built as the Great Depression was under way, and the current world’s tallest, the Burj Khalifa, built just before Dubai almost went bust.

From the movie "The Day After Tomorrow"