Chinese border trading hub struggles amid North's troubles

Dandong

INTERNATIONAL sanctions on North Korea have kept housing in China's border city of Dandong in a glut, in contrast to falling inventories in much of the rest of China, sales data showed.

Dandong, through which much trade with the North flows, has a population of around 860,000 and more unsold housing than much larger cities, including Nanjing with a population of 8.2 million, Hangzhou at 9.2 million and Shenzhen with 11.9 million.

Based on sales trends over the past six months, it will take Dandong 28.8 months to work through its current inventory overhang - the longest of 80 c…