Where do you want to go today?
It's the oldest cliche in the real estate manual: location, location, location are the three main reasons for buying a house. Yet many people say street addresses don't matter as much in Beijing as in other cities. Instead, it is the age-old city-versus-suburbs argument.
Most residents in the luxury market either live downtown near the Central Business District, in the diplomatic areas around Guanghua Road or Sanlitun, in the the villa belt around the city, or, increasingly, in the booming Chaoyang district near the park. The Olympic Village area in the north of the city is also attracting a lot of interest.
'Favorite high-end locations are in the east of Beijing and the Shunyi area, near the airport,' says Caroline Moulin, research manager at Jones Lang LaSalle-Beijing. 'Downtown locations for apartments are good, as they are close to business areas, limiting time spent in traffic, but prices and rents are correspondingly higher.'
ING Real Estate's Dick Kwan says the emphasis is more on the quality of the property than on where it is, though he does have some advice for people coming in from Hong Kong. 'Look at the northeast part of the city,' he says. 'We see a market for good properties in good locations.'
Some people, notably the growing band of young urban professionals, will live nowhere but the Central Business District, because that?s where they work - and they can avoid traffic nightmares. Judy Gao, from SOHO China?s corporate communications department, says: 'The biggest selling point of SOHO is its location, which is next to the CBD area. Many young white-collar workers live here for its convenience to go to work and the complete facilities near the downtown.'
Alice Yan, manager of the public relations department of the Chateau Regalia, New World China Land Ltd, says it's 'six of one and half a dozen of the other? to choose either living in the city or in the suburbs. 'No doubt the environment in the suburbs is much better: less pollution and quieter. Communications are important, but it?s actually no big deal to our customers who can afford buying a house and usually own cars,' she says.
'It's quite convenient now to drive along the highway from Beijing?s suburbs to downtown. In addition, most communities provide shuttle buses to carry people back and forth between their houses and downtown.'
As Mr Kwan notes, Beijing is gradually moving outwards for obvious reason: there is no incentive for developers to stay within the second ring road. 'Too many height restrictions, too many royal families to run into,' he says.
