Last Updated on March 5, 2006 by stlplace
I saw this article in ShanghaiExpat, and I think it’s very informative.
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Understanding Shanghai’s Rental Market
Shanghai’s downtown housing supply grows each year with more and more buildings popping up around town. For the newcomer it must seem overwhelming and many can’t work out why the differing asking prices for what seem to be similar properties. But understanding why is not so hard if you know a bit about the recent history of real estate in this city.
When I came to Shanghai in 1994 to work in real estate, there was limited expatiate housing and no local housing at all. In such a short period we have seen an under supply of expatriate housing to an over supply, then an under supply of local housing to an over supply. Mind you, good quality attractive local apartments are still hard to find and are snapped up quickly. When looking at the housing market in Shanghai it helps to keep in mind that in communist societies, the government and not the people own property so real estate is a recent concept in new China. Therefore, like most things in China, the market is still in growing and in transition.