I know they're very active in investing in real estate in other countries, but how about in China?

  • jilgangga [doe/deer]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Laws differ greatly from cities to cities and after Xi became president the governments of all levels are getting more aggressive in controlling speculation. There’s no real property tax, for example, but the government is weighing on implementing one.

    It’s was definitely possible to own several condos/houses (my parents own 4 in 2 different cities, my uncle and aunt own 6 in 4 different cities; these were all bought in the 2000s and early 2010s). But local governments are recently trying to rein in on that , though their measures are ... super lukewarm. For example, in order to limit second homes, Beijing recently implemented this rule that you can’t get a mortgage for a second home unless you put down a 60% downpayment; they’ve also raised the transaction tax on second homes, but there’s no property tax as of yet.

    Property in China is super odd. In many large cities, rent is ridiculously cheap compared to value. My parents’ primary residence (2b2b), for example, could sell at about $1.4 million but could only rent at about $900 per month.

    Also I don’t think there’s even close to as much social stigma around “adult children (even married ones!) moving back in with the parents” in much of China as there is in the United States. I don’t know how that affect the definition used in Chinese statistics (whether living with parents who own the property count as you owning as well for example), but to be honest I think it’s psychologically much saner than having this pressure to move out just to be “grown up.”