Following Hegang in Heilongjiang Province, another small city in Northeast China, Fuxin in Liaoning Province, has become popular across the internet. Here, it only costs tens of thousands of yuan to purchase a house, attracting many young people who cannot afford housing in big cities. In China, there are more than twenty similar small cities like Hegang and Fuxin that are attracting young people.
Many young people who bought houses at “cabbage prices” in these cities shared their life stories of moving from big cities to settle down in small towns with “Hai Bao News”.
In March 2023, single woman Yu Wenwen crossed over 1500 kilometers from Suzhou to Fuxin, Liaoning, and spent 39,000 yuan to buy a house of 52 square meters on the second floor. She found out later that similar houses were priced at around 30,000 yuan or even lower.
Yu Wenwen had been working in big cities in the south for 20 years, never imagining that one day she would pack her bags and move to Fuxin from the southern cities.
She mentioned that she had worked in Shanghai for 4 years, in Suzhou for 6 years, and traveled to different cities to work for more than a decade, but never had enough money to buy a house of her own.
The house of Wang Xiao, born in Tianjin, was bought in 2022, about 50 square meters on the fifth floor, costing 45,000 yuan.
Wang Xiao, who grew up in a small town in the suburbs of Tianjin, asked herself when she would be able to afford a house while struggling in Tianjin, where housing prices were high and her dream of buying a house seemed distant. So, she decided to leave Tianjin and settled in Fuxin, buying a house to start a new life with her son.
The house prices in Fuxin are extraordinarily low, with some houses priced at a few thousand yuan per set. However, it is advisable not to buy extremely cheap houses because they may have issues with water, electricity, or inconvenience in daily life, as Wang Xiao mentioned.
Fuxin used to be a coal city, but now its resources are depleted. In the past two years, many young people from all over China who want to live a more relaxed life have flocked to Fuxin.
Yu Wenwen shared her story of buying a house and daily life videos online, attracting many people. She earned “hardship fees” from more than a hundred people across the country who bought houses through her, making back the 40,000 yuan she spent on renovations.
Young people from Guangdong, Shandong, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hebei, Tianjin, and elsewhere have come from afar to buy houses and settle down in Fuxin. Some have not even visited the site but purchased houses online.
Young people in Fuxin who bought houses at “cabbage prices” have chosen to live here permanently, while others continue to work outside after buying a house, occasionally returning to stay here.
Wang Xiao mentioned that many netizens across the country want to buy houses in Fuxin. Some find it inconvenient to buy houses on-site and opt for online purchases, viewing houses through photos and videos, paying remotely, and entrusting certification processes.
Now, Wang Xiao has sold the house she bought at a “cabbage price” and purchased an affordable new house in Fuxin County.
As a real estate agent, Wang Xiao has encountered many young people who settled in small towns, with ages ranging from 20 to 40.
A young person in Fuxin, Liu Le, said, “Young people across the country are searching for small houses where they can settle down.”
Apart from Hegang and Fuxin, there are many other low-price housing cities in China attracting young people. According to incomplete statistics from the media, by the end of June 2024, discussions on “buying houses in full payment for tens of thousands of yuan” were taking place on social platforms in at least 24 cities in 10 provinces in China.
Among them, the most low-price housing cities are in the three northeastern provinces, with cities like the popular Fuxin City, Hegang City, Daqing, Shuangyashan, Heihe, accounting for half. In the southern region, the province with the most low-price housing cities is Yunnan.
These so-called “low-price housing cities” have varying degrees of affordability, some being generally low-priced across the entire city while others have specific areas of low housing prices for various reasons.