>>is it true that because of lack of electricity supply that
1..people and factories use gas driven generators? and
2..that there are frequent brownouts/blackouts?<<
I think majority generators in China are still coal driven. And Beijing has NO blackout or brownouts. But other mid-size cities are pretty bad, like LiuZHou-GuangXi Province, for some months already, only supply residential buildings 14 hrs of electricity each day. ChangSha and othe similar size cities are also pretty bad, which have frequent brownouts. A couple of big cities almost always enjoy some privilege on power supply. Although I heard in news that Shanghai this summer will put some limit on how much power an apartment can consume, not sure how they are going to do it.
>>also in terms of real estate i saw a news clip where china government was selling its existing housing to the tenants for cheap but that new property is very expensive.
1... is this true?
2.. do you see a "Bubble" in real estate building there or is it really needed to accomodate all the people moving from rural to urban centers?<<
It depends on individual companies they work for. I have a couple of friends who live in upscale large apartments which have a market price of 10000+ Yuan a square meter (one meter equals to 4 feet), but they paid only a fractional cost out of their pocket because the companies they work for paid 90% of the cost for them. But some other people, like one of my sister and brother and other friends of mine, have to buy apartment out of their own pocket at a full market price (2500-6000 Yuan a square meter)
One thing to keep in mind is that, the land can only be leased as long as 50-70 years, and an apartment usually have only 75 years of life (so I was told). The gov. owns the land after the leasing period.
As for real estate bubble -- I am not sure. A lot of economists claim China has real estate bubble because they saw too many new apartment building everywhere. But it seems that they have forgot how many people would like to have an upscale 1600 square feet apartment in China, big or small cities. My brother took me to DaXing County (30 kilometers from city center), and saw some just finished or still under construction European-style apartments, from 10+ stories cheaper ones (3500 Yuan a square meter) to two stories expensive ones. Most of finished have been sold, and a lot under-construction ones will be on the market soon. And many potential buyers are there to see the sample. Beijing is now a 13 million pop. city, and the goal is to become a 24 million pop. city. So do you know how many apartments will meet the demand?
>>i've also been reading a book that states just as you have that the younger generations are not as heavy savers as the older generation and are becoming "americanized", meaning that they like to live on credit and for the moment rather than save for the future..
1.. do you see this trend to spend rather than save in the younger folks there, especially in consumer non-essential goods?
2. do you notice a lot more american retail stores popping up there?<<
Among the 7% official unemployment rate, 60% are young people who are under 35 years of age. So generally speaking, not many young people have much money left after food and shelters (rent in cities is extremely expensive). Although I agree that young people save less comparing with older ones, but who can blame them with so many cars and apartments to choose from?<g>
I saw more European retail stores than American stores<g>. but there are more US fast food stores. I think a lot of American companies specialized cosmetics rent counters in big joint-venture and Chinese stores. |
