The kremlin Has Portrayed the Crisis in the Chinese Real Estate Market as Its Own Victory

Recent statements by deputy prime minister of the rf marat khusnullin claiming that russia has allegedly surpassed China in terms of housing construction per capita turned out to be yet another manipulative ploy by kremlin propaganda. By citing a “record” 108 million square meters, russian officials simply exploited a convenient statistical anomaly, comparing their own peak figures to the deepest downturn in the PRC’s recent history.

The main secret behind russia’s “success” lies in the timing of the comparison. Since 2021, China’s real estate sector has been experiencing a massive crisis linked to the bankruptcies of major developers and Beijing’s deliberate efforts to deflate the “construction bubble”. As a result, the volume of new housing completions in China temporarily fell to 0.5–0.6 square meters per person. russia, meanwhile, having reached a peak of ~0.75 square meters per capita, presents this as a global triumph, completely ignoring the fact that it is comparing its current high to the lowest point in the Chinese market over the past 20 years.

In addition to selective statistics, the russian side conceals the true state of its housing stock. During two decades of a construction boom, China had been building 1 to 1.4 billion square meters annually, thanks to which the average housing provision in Chinese cities exceeded 40 square meters per person. In russia, however, this figure has remained stagnant at around 28–29 square meters. The Chinese have effectively already resolved the basic housing problem for their population, while russia is merely trying to catch up to standards that have long been the norm in Asia.

Another factor that reveals the manipulation is the quality and origin of the russian “square meters” themselves. Most of the record volumes declared by russia consist of individual residential construction. A significant portion of these square meters consists not of new homes built by cranes and developers, but of long-standing dachas and self-built homes that russians are simply legalizing on paper through the so-called “dacha amnesty”.

Such an artificial comparison with “friendly” China is extremely revealing. Despite moscow’s official rhetoric about a “boundless partnership” and a strategic alliance with Beijing, russian political circles still exhibit a deep-seated need to prove their superiority and measure their achievements against those of their “big brother”. Attempts to assert itself through distorted statistics expose russia’s hidden rivalry and jealousy toward a country it publicly calls its closest friend but in reality perceives as an unattainable competitor.