Accomodation +ves and -ves

[Daniel Primed]

Hello folks, I'm a year 12(final year) student doing chinese, I'm so glad thta I stumbled upon this place as I want to do more research into China.

Anyways I have an oral presentation task to do for school and I need some information. Just a few basic tidbits on the following subjects would help:

Problems with population in increases(in terms of accomodation)

Advantages and disadvantages of modern housing

Afordability(is it cheap, expensive, how much yuan, renting, sharing a place)

Thank you for your help. I feel bad for asking for resources right away so I'll post some of my good pictures from my last school trip in the photos board.

[gougou]

China being a huge country, the population increase would not be a problem (especially considering the low rate of births due to the one-child-policy). What is making the situation more tense is millions of people from the country heading towards the cities, leading to huge growth in urban centers like Beijing.

Due to the huge demand for accomodation, housing prices are skyrocketing in Beijing at the moment and, while pretty much everybody agrees it's a bubble, it doesn't seem to stop increasing anytime soon. The government is taking some steps now to cool the market, but they also wanted to cool the economy last year, which ended up accelerating faster than the year before...

The advantages of modern housing are obvious: hygiene, being able to cram more people onto the same surface area, energy efficiency (depending on who constructed the building...)

The most notable disadvantage will be the cultural disfiguration you can witness in the center of Beijing now already.

Affordability is a tough one, prices vary a lot. A villa in the suburbs of Beijing as well as a mat in a dorm in the center will both be affordable - to different kinds of people, that is. I read the migrant workers I mentioned usually sleep in a room with five to six people, which brings prices down to a more affordable level, some get accomodation provided from their employer (which is deducted from their salary though.)

If you speak Chinese, you can have a look around www.zhantai.com to get an overview over current prices. Something in English can be found here, keep in mind though that this is catering to a foreign clientele - you won't find lower-class housing there.

[mr.stinky]

outside of the major cities, prices are much more affordable. here in kunming you can

easily find 'decent' places starting at 500/month. very nice places 800-1000/month.

(but then this is a low cost of living area)

at the same time the cities are being flooded with migrant workers, many of the older

buildings are being torn down, and being replaced with high rise apartment buildings,

leaving fewer and fewer affordable housing options for the workers.

note on construction methods: total crap. within six months these places seem to be

falling apart. cracks in the walls, electrical problems, leaky pipes and hoses.

still, prices for newer apartments (here, at least) seem stable, as all the new

construction results in a glut of empty flats.

the new suburbs consist of walled housing developments, where townhouses can

run 1-2 million yuan.

[gougou]

note on construction methods: total crap. within six months these places seem to be falling apart. cracks in the walls, electrical problems, leaky pipes and hoses.

Then again, that is not a problem as you don't actually buy houses, but only the right to use them for a certain amount of time (was it 99 years?). After that, the government will put the land to better use than wasting by it housing you.

I asked a friend of mine who worked for a state-owned company in real estate what would happen if you wanted to sell a house after 80 years of the time frame had elapsed. He looked at me with big eyes and replied: "Where do you find houses that are 80 years old?"

[Daniel Primed]

Thanks guys thats more than enjoy help than I need. Its a pretty basic chinese oral but I can get some key points out of there so its a good help.