00.05

This is how the world sees Shanghai. Pulsating. Expanding. Rich.

0.10

With the world watching the city grow, Shanghai is always working on maintaining this façade. 

Major re-building was undertaken for the recent EXPO; anything considered not attractive enough was removed. It is also hoped that visitors from the countryside, who identify with a more historical Shanghai, won’t get lost so easily in the changing city.

0.34

Yet for the average resident of Shanghai, the skyline looks very different. In all Chinese cities there remain ugly blocks from the 80s. They now seem hopelessly out of date and demolition is only a question of time. But it is in these buildings that the rent is affordable.

01.02

This is not the home of a poor labourer. Two young academics with good jobs live here. They also live with a lodger.

01.15

The man, who lives in this room, contributes the equivalent of around 200 Euros to the monthly rent. The two students study electrical engineering and together earn around 1000 Euros a month. It is not a bad financial situation for the average Chinese citizen. And yet Li Min and Wang Junwei live in cramped conditions in a single room.

1.42

They hope to eventually move out of here, into a commonhold apartment. To achieve that, they will gladly accept a few hardships for now, and console themselves that they at least live in the centre of the city.

Li Min – 1:55 – 2:16

This apartment is in a great location. We live in the centre. There is good infrastructure - schools, supermarkets, shopping centres. We can buy things easily. Our apartment doesn’t look very good, but we like living in this area very much.

As attractive as that might seem at first, unless one owns their apartment, there is little security.

Wang Junwei – 2:25 – 2:33

You can only feel really safe, if you have a private house here.

The couple are looking for another apartment, one that looks better and might even belong to them. They’ve already been looking for a year.

2.47

Pudong, the eastern district of Huangpu-Flusses, is the new Shanghai, and the financial centre. It is an attractive area for the two students. In the high glass temples of the banks of Shanghai, lies all the money that the two are lacking.

3.06

At this estate agency, the possibilities are laid before their eyes. Yet getting a small flat in Shanghai costs the equivalent of just under 3000 Euros per square metre. The flats on offer here cost 255,000, 780,000, or even 1 million Euros.

The price of a square metre of property goes up to 7000 Euros here in China’s economic centre. The branch manager at this estate agency only deals with wealthy customers. In the fight against the economic crisis, the government has made strong demands of the real estate sector in the last year.

Xu Wanke, Hanyu Properties – 3:47 – 4:17

In China flats are not only bought to live in. They are seen as a good investment, and they are. Compared to stocks or investing in gold, which are both subject to variations, the value of housing has been rising for years. It is a safer form of investment, which has always been more popular in China.

An employee of the agency shows the young couple around a relatively new development from 2006, which is available for 6000 Euros per square metre.

4.33

For a dream home, it is looking a bit worn out - although it claims to offer a nice view. Namely, there is no tower block directly opposite.

4.48

Is this a dream home for the couple?

4.53 – 5.09

Her: It is very attractive.
Him: Yes, it wouldn’t be bad living here.

Her: It is a dream home, but it is too expensive. Maybe I could afford it in 20 years time. In the foreseeable future, probably not.

They move on to a cheaper address. These residential constructions are still a shell. The exterior is painted, the interior unfinished.

5.24

The plumbing extends only to the kitchen. The power isn’t connected.

After 10 years a Chinese building is considered old. It is built cheaply because the costs have to come in quickly. With a price of 4000 Euros per square metre, these apartments are also too expensive for the couple. 

5:53 – 6:20

Her: We also can’t buy this.

Him: This place isn’t worth the price. The price per square metre amounts to 40,000 Renmimbi, and yet the apartment isn’t ready. We would have to invest a lot more into the development and furnishing. This is an additional cost we can’t afford. It is too expensive if this is all you get.

6.23

Once again the two are forced to recognise that Shanghai is a city of money. The couple are trapped between the dream and the reality, which are worlds apart.

6.34

They dream of a flat in a reasonably central location, yet with a budget of 1000 Euro per square metre they are struggling. They are forced to accept that this is completely unrealistic. With such a tight budget they have to be more flexible.

6.51

An hour’s drive out of Shanghai apartment blocks are emerging for those who want more comfortable ‘chinese style’ accommodation, but at an affordable price.

7.04

Interested parties are offered a small tour around the ever-expanding area.

7.14

The satellite city of Qingpu is rapidly becoming a refuge for the middle classes. Many buyers have moved here, away from Shanghai.

The houses here are about 80 square metres smaller in dimension, and yet they are still able to demand a price of over 1300 Euros per square metre. Anyone who wants to buy an apartment here needs to move quickly.

Gu Yao “Freetown Anlage” – 7:46 – 7:57

The red sticker that you see here means that the house has been sold. We have sold around 90% of the houses here. 30% of buyers come from Shanghai, the rest from Qingpu. For some it is only a financial investment.

The building activity going on here is beginning to excite speculation about the surrounding areas. What was originally intended as a housing estate has instead become an investment for rich city dwellers.

If the young couple don’t strike quickly, the prices will explode here too. Yet they are hesitant.

8.20

Him: If we had a job out here, rather than in the centre of town, then these houses would be very appealing. But it is too far away.

8.30

Her: This is the highest price that we can still accept. If the prices were to rise here too, we just couldn’t afford anything in Shanghai, or even in the rest of the country.

While the two try to muster the money for a joint down payment, prices continue to rise, faster than they can possibly save. It seems a hopeless situation, not only for this couple, and not only in Shanghai. Recently even a politician in Beijing has complained that he cannot afford to buy an apartment. Whatever the short-term gains of this real estate bubble, China could eventually pay a very heavy price.