One week ago, we reported that China had found itself “On The Verge” of collapse as its “Welfare State Crumbles, Explosion In Social Unrest As Youth Unemployment Soars, Strikes Surge.” All of this was the result of Beijing’s very deliberate – and extremely risky – decision to not engage in a massive stimulus this time, unlike every previous occasion of sharp economist slowdown, and risk social unrest at best, or a full-blown revolution as an unthinkable worst case.

Here is the silver lining: all those revolutionaries will have brand new empty offices at their disposal when they finally take over. That’s because as the FT reports, offices in China’s biggest cities are emptier than they were during stringent Covid-19 lockdowns in what is the latest clear sign of how the country’s economic slowdown has crushed business confidence.

At least a fifth of high-end office space was vacant in the tech hub of Shenzhen in June, according to data from three real estate agencies, while office vacancy rates in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai were also higher than in June 2022. Naturally, with demand collapsing, rents are at least 10% lower than they were two years ago and in many cases much lower.