Chairman Mao never saw this coming. Ranch-style bungalows abounding in Beijing's -western suburbs, duplex two-garage luxury homes near the -international airport, mock-Tudor palaces in the northwest, glass-walled visions of Manhattan just a short walk from the Forbidden City.
Even for the most hardened of capitalists, it takes a bit of getting used to. Nevertheless, Beijing?s luxury housing market is a reality now and looks like a pretty good investment, if you do your homework, take your time and keep your eyes peeled for the right opportunity.
Until recently foreigners were effectively restricted to the diplomatic compounds of the city. But the opening up of China and the economic boom of recent years has transformed the city and now foreigners and mainlanders alike are free to choose where they live.
'Since 1998, the government has been encouraging local people to buy their own houses and demand for ownership has been increasing,' says Caroline Moulin, research manager at Jones Lang LaSalle in Beijing. ?We expect this demand to continue to grow, as the middle-class represents about 15 per cent of the Beijing population and is expected to grow a percentage point a year over the next few years.
'Since the restrictions on foreign-approved housing have been abolished, foreigners can now lease and buy anywhere, which created more new demand and more new supply. Local developers have been building new modern projects with better quality and layout.'
There are scores of Chinese and foreign developers at work in the city, building new apartments and houses at prices ranging from the affordable middle-class home to the expensive dream house. But not everyone is sure this supply is going to be taken up as quickly as the developers would like. State media have run commentaries fretting about the rapid increase in the number of villas being built in Beijing. Analysts have forecast that within the next two years, between 5,000 and 7,000 homes priced at five million yuan (HK$4.7 million) or more will be put on the market, with a total value of around 30 billion yuan (HK$28 billion). That is nearly two thirds of the current market total of about 45 billion yuan (HK$42 billion).