Economic Observer Online
July 6, 2012
By Zhou Yalin （周亚霖）
Translated by Tang Xiangyang
Original article: [Chinese]

As Beijing’s home prices rose over the last two months, homebuyers poured into suburbs and the neighboring Hebei Province, where a typical apartment costs a million yuan and smaller ones can be found for as little as 200,000 yuan. 

Four hundred newly built apartments in Fangshan District (房山区) were bought up within five hours of going on sale on June 30, generating 400 million yuan for the developer, which was selling off a second batch of homes on a larger unfinished project. 

One salesman working for the developer said that several hundred homebuyers came to visit each weekend. 

Those so-called second-stage apartments were priced at 13,700 yuan per square meter - homes on the same development in the third batch of sales will cost 14,000 yuan, but that’s still cheap enough to lure homebuyers who have been priced out of Beijing. 

Another project in Shunyi District （顺义区), north east of the city, needed just a day to sell out its 355 apartments, which were priced at 8,800 yuan per square meter - 260,000 yuan for the smallest flats. 

One salesman there said that over 90% of customers were buying properties for themsleves rather than as investments, as is common eleswehere. 

One Beijing home owner who was looking to pick up a second property said that he thought this might be the last chance.

“I’m Beijing local. I have a home. But I feel if I don’t buy one now, I will never be able to buy one,” he said.

Another homebuyer who lacks a Beijing hukou (户口), or household registration, but has been employed in the capital for five years said she wanted to take advantage of her newly-acquired right to buy a house.

"I have no hukou, but I think it’s a must to buy a home here. I want to live here with my parents,” he said.

 
Links and Sources
The Beijing Times 央行一个月内第二次降息