‘Boom to bust’ Beijing commuter town Yanjiao sees sudden surge in home prices
- Yanjiao’s home prices up 7 per cent in three months
- Prices jump on news Yanjiao will get key subway stop and that Beijing municipal government has started long-awaited move into neighbouring city
Home prices have suddenly shot up in Yanjiao, a boom-to-bust commuter town near Beijing that got a lifeline from two strokes of luck: it’s been picked for a key subway station, and a long-awaited move by the Beijing municipal government to a neighbouring city is finally under way.
In the past three months, amid the subway and relocation news, home prices have jumped 7 per cent. That follows nearly two years of recession.
The rush of good fortune is related to Beijing’s decision to relocate its municipal government out of the heart of the city. That will reduce Beijing’s notoriously bad traffic and crowdedness by moving jobs out to the suburbs where there is more affordable housing.
It picked Tongzhou – just 11 kilometres (about 7 miles) west of Yanjiao, across the river – and said there would be “coordinated development” with bordering Hebei counties including Yanjiao. Twenty thousand government workers are being relocated. Schools and hospitals will come as well. Beijing predicts an inflow of 400,000 people into the area.
Yanjiao, known as a laid-back alternative to Beijing, is benefitting from signs that the relocation had finally begun.
“In China, any urban planning can boost buyers’ sentiment as government-led development of new regions brings along premier resources like infrastructure, schools and hospitals,” said Sabrina Wei, the research head at Cushman & Wakefield. “With prices roughly a third of that of Beijing, Yanjiao is a natural draw for commuters (who work) in Beijing.”
