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Thread: Do more dream-seekers in Shanghai have to stay in slum?

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[quote=CLAUDIUS,250570]LEONARDO, the rental for that apartment you've pointed out (2 bedrooms with a lounge) must be for an area at least 1 to 2 hours of travel (on subway or otherwise) away from city centre. According to an article published in China Times  sometime in 2005, Shanghai has the highest GDP and the highest average property prices in China.

I used to stay in a 3 room apartment in Pudong, about 140sq meters which cost around 4300 excluding bills, from October 2003 for a year. The same apartment now cost 6500RMB a month to rent. My next posh new rented apartment, 30 minutes from city center, cost 3800 for 2 bedrooms, living area, dining hall and kitchen (92sqm). It is now going for 5800RMB. Finally I shifted to a pre-war terrace house, built by the British ( my guess ) as a whole apartment of 3 floors. I was told that after the cultural revolution, the house was vacated (forcefully no doubt) by the then-rich owners and now there are 4 families staying in the house, artfully segregated for privacy. I was staying on ground floor, used to be the main living area of the house with a nice front porch and back door. It cost 1600RMB a month for that 26sqm of living space but is only 10 minutes walk from city center. A graduate from zhejiang was staying on the 2nd floor in what used to be a storeroom with only 7sqm and no attached toilet or bathroom. He was paying 800RMB a month and it was taking the majority of his 1500RMB wage to just stay there.

I don't really consider that a slum (I saw at least 3 caucasian families living among the same row of house) but you can't say it was a luxury either. It was the porch which sealed my decision as I was keeping a dog and a cat. The same place is going for 2500 a month the last I checked after I moved out in 2006.

To my knowledge, most of the true blue shanghainese have been staying in such house or apartment and life is frugal at best. I realised Shanghai is a place where all the rich in China would want to come and invest in an apartment, and that sadly, is causing the shanghainese both grieve and consolation as although their property value increases every year, they are unable to get any more apartments from their less than average wages.[/quote]

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