Used Jade Market Flooded by Distressed Middle-Class Sellers
A pretty interesting trend has emerged lately: the secondhand jade market is flooded with middle-class sellers trying to cash out. Wang Huaijun found that most of these sellers are in their 30s, financially comfortable, and willing to sell off their entire jade collections. In plain terms, they used to buy jade for face value and as a way to preserve wealth—but now they're desperate to get rid of it, even at a steep loss.
This makes the consumption downgrade in the jade circle pretty obvious. Jade was once considered a family heirloom that only grew more valuable with age, but its poor liquidity has become painfully clear: when cash is needed, it's nearly impossible to sell at the original purchase price. By the way, this parallels the secondhome housing market—valuation may look high, but deals drag on unless prices are slashed dramatically.
One more point: the liquidity problem in the jade market reflects a structural dilemma in middle-class asset allocation. High-ticket, low-liquidity assets are viewed as保值 tools during economic upswings, but when sentiment shifts, the lack of a secondary market pricing mechanism, combined with a limited pool of buyers, forces sellers to accept heavy discounts. This connects to the jade price bubble between 2018 and 2021, when some categories surged more than 30%—but corrections may now reach 20% to 40%.