buying an appartment in haidian

[JELLOS83]

Hi all

I am planning to start studying Chinese in Beijing in 2009. I would be staying for at least two years. You don't need to be Einstein to know that buying an appartment, in stead of giving away some money every month, saves a lot of money.

I already read that foreigners can easily buy an appartment in Beijing. Does anyone know the average price of a simple, basic small appartment in the Haidian District?

Thank you in advance

[BrandeX]

You don't need to be Einstein to know that buying an appartment, in stead of giving away some money every month, saves a lot of money.

Are you aware that in major cities like Beijing, purchasing a home frequently runs on the plus side of a million rmb?

[roddy]

50m2 studios in a new building near me (Haidian, albeit south end and close to the center than the university area) are listed at either side of RMB 1 mln, 97m2 apartments in my building around RMB 1.8 mln. However last I heard you needed to have been resident in China for a year before buying an apartment, and there's a 5% tax on apartments sold within 5 years of purchase, not to mention other associated costs. Plus you're assuming house prices won't drop - I'm no expert, but post-Olympics and with the general economic outlook I'm not sure I'd be buying now, certainly for such a short stay.

[JELLOS83]

Tnx guys for your replies

If appartments cost that much it would be impossible for me to buy one. I visited some Chinese real estate websites and I bumped into some apprtments in the Haidian district which only costed between 150000 and 200000 yuan. This would be affordable for me since I have already worked and saved for three years but it could be that that website wasn't up to date or just stating nonsense.

[roddy]

Those prices may well be plausible for older, smaller or badly located places. Haidian's a big place and stretches quite far out of the city proper.

[adrianlondon]

You don't need to be Einstein to know that buying an appartment, in stead of giving away some money every month, saves a lot of money.

This is what everyone in the UK and USA said until around 6 months ago ;)

[imron]

I visited some Chinese real estate websites and I bumped into some apprtments in the Haidian district which only costed between 150000 and 200000 yuan.

Surely there must have been some kind of mistake. I can't believe you could find anything that cheap in Haidian district. Do you have a link to the websites at all?

A quick search on Sofang.com reveals 2nd hand houses going for between 800,000 and over 2 million.

[flameproof]

I am sure there are places for rmb 150,000 or so. But I suggest you go there and have a look if you really want to live there, no matter how low you set your minimum standard.

and there's a 5% tax on apartments sold within 5 years of purchase,

On the profit or on the sales amount?

not to mention other associated costs.

There will be agent fees, Lawyer fees, This fees, That fees also combined in the range 5-10%. Plus decoration and furniture since a place in that price range will probably be very grotty.

I am very positive towards buying, but I would not buy if I were you, and certainly not with that budget. Only top places you can sell, plus I do worry about the CN economy as at large.

[roddy]

I don't know the details of the tax, I just remember reading about it.

While I can believe low-end places change hands at that price, I'm not sure how easy they'd be to find for someone searching (I assume) in English, and I suspect you may have come across either a very out of date website, or mistaken deposit costs for the full cost. Or misunderstood what 150万 means - that's easy enough to do. This search shows some in that kind of price range, although mostly nearer the 300,000 end.

[rezaf]

Roddy is right, 150000 is 15万 which is enough to buy 10m2 of a cheap apartment in Shanghai. I also wanted to buy but in China it's not economically good for a foreigner since we have limitations and we can't rent it to others. I bought an apartment in my own country where I am in full control and the prices are rising. Now I use it's rental to pay my rental in China.