Monthly Archives: January 2005

Is the Real Estate Cooling Down?

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I posted Hard to Buy a House in Shanghai in August, 2003. One year and a quarter past. When we enter the new year of 2005, does the situation change? Is the real estate price cooling Down? The answer is definitely no.

My friends went to see a newly opened property near my apartment in Pudong (namely, Hai Shang International Garden). Their price is pretty good – 9000 RMB per sq. meter. They just opened and people rush there. There are so many people waiting to buy the houses that the development company made the following rules:

  • The right to buy the house is based on lucky-draw.
  • All buyers needs to register with their National ID and hand in 20,000 RMB first to be entiled to the lucky-draw.
  • The winning rate will be one out of 50. That means, only one person out of 50 candidates will be granted the right to buy their houses.
  • If you want to make sure you can buy one apartment, show them 1 million RMB in cash.
  • The 20,000 RMB will be returned to those failed in the bid.

Sounds crazy?

7 Days and 7 Nights to Buy House

At the other property near the Centuary Park (about 20 minutes walk from my apartment), they just opened to public. People waited outside (in freezing air and experienced snow) for 7 days. They stand, eat, and sleep in the line. The price for the apartment is 16,000 RMB per sq. meter (or 2000 USD per sq. meter). This is based on the description of my friends living in that area.

Sounds crazy?

Shanghai’s Real Estate Price is Still Rising

Despite of all kinds of negative information on the Shanghai real estate market, the price of the apartments kept rising in 2004 and entered the fast raising period. It is astonishing, strange, and confusing!

Heavy Snow in Shanghai

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It is very rare that Shanghai snowed so heavily this year – for the first time in the last 10 years. We entered the new year of 2005 in white.

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© Jian Shuo Wang. Snow in details at the corner of my garden

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© Jian Shuo Wang. Outside the garden, the ground are all white

It was icy on the road inside the residential area while the public roads are completely clear of snow already. People obviously don’t have any experience to deal with ice and snow. Traffic accidents happen everywhere. My Goudaner was completely covered by snow. The snow on the rear window, which is the deepest, reaches to 3 cm already. Both the rear and the front window were covered by snow and ice. It is not possible to remove it by hand since the ice has been very sticky to the glass. To avoid break the glass, I have to warm up the car very carefully and increase the temperature from inside. About 20 minutes later, the snow and ice began to melt so I can clear a small hole on the front. 10 minutes later, the whole front window is clear so I can start to drive. It is funny.

Happy New Year

The old Chinese saying is: “Snow indicate a fruitful new year.” I hope it will be. My heart goes out to the victoms of Tsunami in South East Asia. China (at least Shanghai, or my home) is not affected. Happy New Year to everyone!