Faber: China Will Crash Within a Year

The Chinese economy is due for a major cooling and may even tank by year’s end, says investment guru Marc Faber.

The Chinese property market, often said to be in a bubble, is due for a pop, just like overall stock prices, Faber says.

“The market is telling you that something is not quite right,” says Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report.

“The Chinese economy is going to slow down regardless,” he tells Bloomberg. “It is more likely that we will even have a crash sometime in the next nine to 12 months.”

The nation’s economy grew 11.9 percent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in almost three years. The government projects gross domestic product growth for the year of about 8 percent.

The clampdown on property speculation may prompt investors to turn to the nation’s stock market, Faber said. Still, shares are “fully priced” and Chinese investors may instead become “big buyers” of gold, he said.

China has ordered banks to raise their reserve requirements in an effort to ease inflationary pressures and cool a red-hot economy without raising interest rates.

The flood of money pumping through the economy has pushed up housing prices by 11.7 percent in March over a year earlier, according to the Associated Press.

"The government's campaign against property speculation is now center stage," says Mark Williams, of Capital Economics in London.

According to Williams, China could hike bank reserve requirements once a month for the rest of the year while avoiding interest rate hikes until it sees how well the measure is working.