Gloomy warning comes as Chinese investors pour money into overseas commercial property deals

An inevitable rise in interest rates will lead to a real-estate crash in both China and the United States within a decade, a conference on US-China business relations was told.

"When people buy or rent real estate, the one thing they look at is, 'How much do I have to pay per month to own it or to rent it?'" said John Allen, the chairman and CEO of Greater China Corp at a panel discussion about the investment climate in China and the US that was part of the day-long China Institute Executive Summit in Manhattan. "If interest rates rise just a little bit, the principal value of those properties drops a substantial amount.