Seasonal variation in rent prices in SH?

[shivan]

Hello all!

I will be going to Shanghai around august and september and stay for one year.

It is my experience from Beijing that around semester start lots of new students pour into the city which creates a demand spike and drives up prices.

The best time to rent should be around now when everyone is going home.

Does anyone know how big the seasonal variation in rent price is?

Im going to roommate with an old friend who already lives in SH in a studio apartment. Im considering if it would pay off to have double rent for 1-2 months in exchange for getting lower rent rate / more for the money.

best

Emil

[anonymoose]

I don't think the fluctuation would be that big, unless you are in an area where most tenants are students, but even near universities, I guess that students still constitute the minority of tenants.

Having said that, since you have 1-2 months before you need a place, this time would be very useful to look for apartments. The turnover can be fairly quick, so taking your time means that you should have ample opportunity to find something reasonable even if there is nothing immediately available on your arrival. Rents and conditions can vary quite substantially, so it's worth taking the time to look around.

[ThatHorse]

I don't think there's so much fluctuation like they say as just

(1) always going up, expecting to get more than last time,

(2) expecting more from foreigners (obviously),

(3) some times of the year it's really hard to find anything because everybody is travelling or there's certain times of the year when everybody just got back from travelling and so the buildup of people wanting to move all comes at the same time and there's not enough places to go around, and

(4) basically you should be wanting to move in within 2 weeks max, so looking in advance is kind of pointless.