news

In recent years, young people who reject high housing prices have dug out a list of "Hegang-type" cities.

Judging from the map, these cities are concentrated in the northern region, with a few located in Yunnan, Anhui and Guangxi, and most of them are located in counties and towns.

In Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, where the wealth index ranks among the highest in the country, people have also begun looking for "low-priced houses" in the Yangtze River Delta.

In the discussion among young people about "cities like Hegang", netizens from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai discovered that Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai also have their own "cheap houses".

Jurong, Jiangsu, is a county-level city adjacent to Nanjing. Wang Huaijie, a local real estate salesperson, told the Times Weekly reporter that there are many houses with an average price of just over 4,000 or 5,000 yuan. "Although it is difficult to compare with the 10,000 or 20,000 yuan for a house in Hegang, it can be said to be the lowest price in the province."

If we look further, Zhenjiang City, where Jurong is located, is also considered to be a low-price area in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. A reporter from Times Weekly found that there is no shortage of second-hand houses in Zhenjiang City with a total price of around 100,000 yuan, and high-end residential areas can be bought at an average price of 5,000 yuan.

△ Image source: Tuchong

Although they are both considered "uncompetitive" by young people due to their low housing prices, the causes of "cheap houses" in Zhenjiang and Jurong are very different from those in Hegang.

The Times Weekly reporter sorted out the views of many interviewees and found that the current situation of the real estate market in Jurong and Zhenjiang is that the former is due to developers and investors overdrawing inter-city benefits in advance, while the latter is related to the development of local industries.

A place to lie down in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai?

In May this year, Lin Yangliu bought a second-hand unfinished house with an area of ​​65 square meters and a total price of 160,000 yuan in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. She paid a down payment of 10,000 yuan, and the rest was calculated based on 20 years, with a monthly mortgage of only more than 800 yuan.

She took a picture of the window view of trees, rice fields and blue sky, and posted it to the social platform with the captions "Buy a house with low down payment", "Settle down" and "Lie down". It quickly attracted a large number of netizens, some of whom left messages saying that they also work and live in the Yangtze River Delta and "are tempted by the housing prices and want to go there to lie down."

△ The house under renovation (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Lin Yangliu’s new house is located in Zhenjiang Dagang New District. It takes 30 minutes to drive to the center of Zhenjiang city, and less than two hours to reach Nanjing by bus and high-speed rail.

"Parking is free, bus fare is 50 cents per trip, there are large supermarkets within 5 kilometers, large shopping malls within ten kilometers, and there are mountains, water, and parks." Lin Yangliu told the Times Weekly reporter that the life experience here has made her feel very comfortable over the past few months.

"But what attracts me most is the low housing prices, which are even lower than those in my hometown."

Lin Yangliu said that although "cheap house" cities such as Hegang, Hebi and Rushan have become popular in recent years, most of them are located in the north. She grew up in the south and has been working in the Yangtze River Delta in the past few years. She does not want to go to a place that is too far away or has a very different climate, so Zhenjiang became her only choice.

Zhenjiang’s high housing prices not only attract young people like Lin Yangliu, but also make it a gathering place for people from big cities in the Yangtze River Delta to vacation and retire.

Lin Yangliu said that the local population is high among middle-aged and elderly people, not only because of the limited industries and the fact that young people go out to work, but also because many elderly people come from other places to buy houses for retirement. "After all, the average price of high-end residential areas in the surrounding area is around 5,000 yuan."

Jurong, a county-level city under Zhenjiang, has also attracted attention this year for its low housing prices.

Wang Huaijie introduced that Jurong is now adjacent to Nanjing's Baohua Town and Development Zone. The average price of new houses in the former is around 7,000 yuan, and in the latter around 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. "This price can be said to be the lowest in the province and even lower than that in northern Jiangsu."

"But it wasn't like this before." Wang Huaijie said that Jurong is more than 40 kilometers away from Nanjing city, and its location is better than some districts and counties in Nanjing, and the housing prices are significantly lower than those in Nanjing city. Working in Nanjing and buying a house in Jurong has become one of the choices for some young people who do not have high requirements for work.

Especially at the end of 2021, the Ningju intercity railway connecting Nanjing and Jurong was opened, making commuting between the two cities more convenient and the size of the cross-city commuting population gradually increased.

"The sleeping city concept fueled the property market in the early years. In 2018, the average price of these houses, which cost a few thousand yuan, would be at least 15,000 yuan or more."

Why does a “housing price depression” form?

The current real estate market has entered a new normal, with the main point of the property market being that houses are for living, not for speculation. Therefore, excluding the interference of house speculation, the real estate market in most regions has begun to become rational.

"In recent years, an important development direction for Jurong has been to integrate into Nanjing and take over from Zhenjiang. Previously, there were frequent rumors that some areas of Jurong would be incorporated into Nanjing."

Chen Jiu (pseudonym), a native of Zhenjiang, told the Times Weekly reporter that for a long time, under the development direction of "integration into Nanjing", Nanjing and Jurong not only built a half-hour commuting circle, but Jurong also began to take over the industrial spillover from Nanjing. This trend also left Jurong's real estate market full of imagination, "but from now on, the real estate market has been over-imagined."

△ Image source: Tuchong

Wang Huaijie also pointed out that Nanjing Metropolitan Area is the first national metropolitan area approved. Developers overdrew the benefits of Jurong-Nanjing integrated development and Nanjing-Jucheng intercity development in advance, and built a large number of real estate projects, resulting in supply far exceeding demand. In addition, a large influx of investors in the past few years and the traditional concept of home buyers to buy when prices rise and not when prices fall have led to a significant decline in Jurong's real estate market. "But now is also a good time to buy when you need it."

Yan Yuejin, research director of the E-House Research Institute, told the Times Weekly reporter that one of the important purchasing powers of Jurong's real estate market comes from Nanjing. Against the backdrop of a cooling national real estate market in recent years, Nanjing's real estate market has generally declined in terms of volume and price, recovering some of the spillover purchasing power.

If the ups and downs of Jurong's real estate market are due to the overconstruction of Jurong as Nanjing's "sleeping city" over the past period of time, then why has Zhenjiang City, to which Jurong belongs, become a "housing price depression" in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai?

Yan Yuejin believes that industrial layout may be the key. From the map, Zhenjiang is connected to Nanjing in the west, Yangzhou in the north, and Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou in the southeast. Nanjing and Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou have strong siphoning power in terms of industry and population, and Yangzhou is slightly better as a tourist city. Zhenjiang, sandwiched in the middle, not only has weak industrial development, but also a weak presence, so the volume and price performance of the real estate market is weak.

"But from another perspective, this is also an opportunity for Zhenjiang." Yan Yuejin said that lower housing prices have a certain appeal to people in surrounding big cities, and the relatively low cost of living will gradually attract some groups to settle down or retire here, which is also what is happening in Zhenjiang.

Written by｜Zeng Siyi

Editor: Li Guang

Layout｜ Pine