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This photo taken on March 31, 2023 shows cattle near deserted villas in a suburb of Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province. China's real estate industry grew at lightning speed from the late 90s, and was a major component of the country's turbocharged economic expansion. But with growth slowing and debts swelling, authorities cut off access to easy loans in 2020, pummelling the sector and causing a record-breaking slump last year. Cattle wander between the concrete shells of half-finished mansions in northeastern China, some of the only occupants of a luxury complex whose crumbling verandas and overgrown arches are stark symbols of a housing market crippled by its own excess. (Photo by Jade GAO / AFP) / TO GO WITH China-economy-housing, PHOTOESSAY (Photo by JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images)

This photo taken on March 31, 2023 shows cattle near deserted villas in a suburb of Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province. China's real estate industry grew at lightning speed from the late 90s, and was a major component of the country's turbocharged economic expansion. But with growth slowing and debts swelling, authorities cut off access to easy loans in 2020, pummelling the sector and causing a record-breaking slump last year. Cattle wander between the concrete shells of half-finished mansions in northeastern China, some of the only occupants of a luxury complex whose crumbling verandas and overgrown arches are stark symbols of a housing market crippled by its own excess. (Photo by Jade GAO / AFP) / TO GO WITH China-economy-housing, PHOTOESSAY (Photo by JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images)
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AFP JADE GAO