Just that what a lot of people here would consider a home isn’t what a lot of Chinese people have. And the middle class is sometimes in way over their head for housing, with apartments going for insane prices even for Western standards.
The issue for China isn’t that nobody owns a home, but rather that the young and bright can’t afford one that’s up to modern standards, an issue shared with the West.
Where? Shanghai and Beijing are expensive by chinese standards, but you can rent a mansion for the price of a suburban shitbox in America. And the rest of China is even cheaper.
Renting is quite cheap in China because property investors traditionally don’t expect a ROI from rent, but from sale.
Absolute numbers I could find from last year:
As of August 2024, prices for new homes across 100 cities in China averaged 16,461 RMB per square meter, or about $2,318.50.
In the United States, the average price per square foot is around $233, according to May 2024 data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This equates to $2,508.01 per square meter.
This with a lower average income in China; it’s usually less than 1500 USD/month after conversion.
That adds up. Rent is hilariously low, idk why anyone would buy when your mortgage is going to be double rent.
Given the tendency of the chinese stock market towards low growth, I kinda understand why randos would tend towards land despite returns nearly as bad as Japan.
China has a homeownership rate somehwere between 90% and 96%. Cope harder.
Just that what a lot of people here would consider a home isn’t what a lot of Chinese people have. And the middle class is sometimes in way over their head for housing, with apartments going for insane prices even for Western standards.
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/fotoserie-ueber-hab-und-gut-von-familien-china-wie-es-wirklich-lebt-1.2513551 for photos how a large part of the Chinese live, the photographer is Chinese himself.
The issue for China isn’t that nobody owns a home, but rather that the young and bright can’t afford one that’s up to modern standards, an issue shared with the West.
Where? Shanghai and Beijing are expensive by chinese standards, but you can rent a mansion for the price of a suburban shitbox in America. And the rest of China is even cheaper.
Renting is quite cheap in China because property investors traditionally don’t expect a ROI from rent, but from sale.
Absolute numbers I could find from last year:
This with a lower average income in China; it’s usually less than 1500 USD/month after conversion.
That adds up. Rent is hilariously low, idk why anyone would buy when your mortgage is going to be double rent.
Given the tendency of the chinese stock market towards low growth, I kinda understand why randos would tend towards land despite returns nearly as bad as Japan.