Property bets follow casinos in Macau gold rush

The way Macau property prices are soaring while rows of new apartment blocks stand nearly empty, investors could be forgiven for thinking that the mushrooming casino business is providing the gas for a property bubble. The former Portuguese enclave on China's southern tip has drawn speculative flows from Shanghai, which is being officially cooled after an explosion of real estate investment, and Hong Kong, where rising interest rates are starting to bite. Macau developers can still sell sparkling high-rise blocks in just a couple of weeks, but buyers are taking a big risk. There is hardly any rental market -- only around a tenth of new apartments are lived in. more from yahoo: