Legal eagle waiting for the right time to buy
Young lawyer Chen Mingliang and his new wife are breaking tradition and are doing what most young Chinese newlyweds are not doing. They are still living in a rented apartment.
"In fact, I can afford the down payment, but I simply do not want to buy now," he said, "The house prices are rising totally unreasonable."
Last October, the 27-year-old began looking for an apartment because he was fed up with the inconveniences of renting a house. The biggest problem was constantly moving from one place to another. He had never settled down in one house for more than a year.
He also believed renting was expensive, generally ranging between 1,300 ($168) and 1,500 ($194) per month for a simple studio flat. Sharing an apartment with others could save money, but he said frictions with roommates seemed unavoidable because of different living habits.
With only a small amount saved after working for about two years, Chen paid more attention to the second-hand homes, which are generally 10 to 20 percent cheaper than new buildings in the same position.
He visited more than 20 second-hand houses within three months. He discovered they either were too old or the intermediary fees charged were too high. What made him particularly angry was the house intermediary institutions raised the prices at will.
The average unit price for most of the houses he visited late last year rose more than 1,000 yuan ($129) per square meter after he returned to Beijing after the Lunar New Year holiday. "I felt it pretty strange. The houses were not selling but the prices kept rising any way," he said.
Now Chen has totally given up on the idea of purchasing a house and may consider buying again in three years. "I think the house prices will be relatively stable and represent their true value," he said. "Maybe I would buy a house at a higher price than now, but I would not regret."
(China Daily 04/10/2007 page19)
