Shenzhen’s success as innovation hub seen by some as model for all of China
Last year Steve Guo, an engineer in his 40s living in Shenzhen, China’s hub for technology innovation, sold two small units and bought a four-bedroom apartment through mortgage loans.
The two old properties sold for a total of about 7 million yuan while the new one cost almost 12 million yuan. But Guo and his wife, each earning a salary of about 15,000 yuan per month, are not worried about the gap because they believe home prices in Shenzhen will keep soaring for years to come as the city continues to be the country’s fastest growing metropolis – even eventually overtaking China’s other first-tier cities.
They are not alone in their thinking. Shenzhen has become the centre of attention in China as authorities hold it up as a role model of economic transformation and wealth accumulation that defies the economic headwinds that have slowed growth in most other parts of the mainland.
Aspirations are growing among the city government’s think tanks and its citizens, fuelling debate over whether Shenzhen’s recent reinvention should be a model for China’s future.
As Beijing and Shanghai made do with 6.7 per cent GDP expansion in the first six months this year, Shenzhen managed 8.6 per cent, driven by the fastest growth in residential property prices worldwide.
