In 2010, China achieved a major milestone when it overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy, the culmination of many years of double-digit growth and a quick rebound from the global financial crisis. At the end of 2011, the country achieved another milestone when new data showed that for the first time more than half of China’s 1.35 billion people lived in urban areas. This ongoing urbanization is a powerful trend that experts expect to continue: Some estimate 15 million new residents will move to China’s cities each year for the next 10 to 20 years. The urbanization, along with rising incomes, has helped keep the mighty economic engine in high gear. But China has not been immune to world events. The European sovereign debt crisis and ensuing European recession, and a barely growing U.S. economy, are slowing China’s exports, and government-imposed sanctions in China have thrown a wet blanket over the residential sector. What might be in store