stlplaceLast Updated on October 16, 2007 by stlplace
Our visa applications finally came through, and I booked air ticket for my wife’s trip (PVG to STL, same itinerary as mine).
I already got the round trip ticket for myself, so the question is find a same ticket for her. I checked out flychina.com, aa.com and China-sss 春秋航空旅游网 (travel agency) and they all gave me a quote of about $1000. That’s not cheap consider my round trip ticket from STL to PVG cost about $1250.
Last Updated on October 11, 2007 by stlplace
Vanke is No. 1 home builder in China. Today. Vanke A share (000002) went up 10% in Shenzhen, after it moved sideways for about two months. Note today is the first trading day after China national holiday break.
Real estate companies in China don’t get much respect these days. No matter how many new homes they built, how much tax they pay and how many jobs they create. This is similar to the US big oil companies. In this case it’s because the housing prices in China cities spiked again. The hot topic in China these days are “why the new home prices increase so fast”, “why those guys bid the land at such a high price (down the road, they will sell the homes at price even higher”. The “conclusion” is the developers must make good money off home buyers. This is certainly not accurate. I’m not saying the banks are making all the money, while the real estate companies are getting nothing. They certainly get a fair piece of the pie so that they can feed their families.
Front sign of Vanke Baima garden in SH:
Last Updated on October 8, 2007 by stlplace
This one is for real. Here in Shanghai it started to rain yesterday afternoon; today the heavy wind sometimes make it impossible to walk. I saw numerous people flipped their umbrella. Just as I was thinking I’m lucky, my umbrella did the same thing.
Zhongshan park (Kaixuan Rd.)
Zhunyi Rd. & Changning Rd.
Last Updated on October 9, 2007 by stlplace
We went to the new (new to me) Shanghai south railway station yesterday. I was very impressed by the structure. It’s in deep constrast to the older Shanghai railway station (built in 1980s). The lights and landscape around the station are also very nice. Since I did not bring the camera, here are some pictures I found on the web.
Last Updated on October 7, 2007 by stlplace
First a little background. Like the Chinese stock market, the Chinese real estate market has a brief history and I talked it a bit in my previous E-House post. Also, China is a big country and the real estate market varies by region, for instance, the Shenzhen market is cooling down lately while Shanghai market is becoming hot. Very much like in the US we could see Dallas and Seattle are still doing ok, while California, Las Vegas etc. are cooling down now.
The picture above is taked from Vanke White Horse Garden in Shanghai (courstey of soufun.com, for more pics click here).
With that in mind, I am talking about my understanding the Shanghai housing market, in Q&A style.
1) Why the price went up so much lately?
It’s mostly supply and demand. The new supply is very limited in 2005 and 2006 because: the prevailing prices did not spur interest from developers to build new homes; the new supply of land is very limited.
Last Updated on October 6, 2007 by stlplace
The Chinese market closed for a week during this national holiday. The HK and US market is still open. There are lots of actions of Chinese stocks in those markets. From the blue (red) chips (such as LFC), to more speculative ones (such as EFUT). It appears to me the valuation of FXI, LFC etc are no longer attractive anymore. But at the same time we can not ignore that the new money is continuing pour into those hot stocks.
My job is not to predict the market, nor am I an expert on FXI and LFC (although I did talk about those two a while ago). I picked up Philip Fisher “common stocks and uncommon profits” instead*. Phil wrote the book more than 50 years ago, but the 15 points to find the great stock still holds: product service, R&D, profit margin, sales, management,…