The house prices in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province have dropped to the price of “cabbage”, where you can buy a 60-square-meter, two-bedroom apartment for 60,000 yuan (RMB).
According to Chen Juan, a real estate agent in Zhangjiakou City who spoke to Huaxia Times on May 31, in the Xiahuayuan district of Zhangjiakou City, you can buy a 60-square-meter, two-bedroom apartment for 60,000 yuan, or a 78-square-meter, two-bedroom apartment for 80,000 yuan. These affordable housing units all come with a 70-year property rights guarantee.
Additionally, there are some inexpensive housing units for sale in the Macha She residential building complex. Chen Juan introduced a listing priced at 85,000 yuan which can be negotiated down. In the same community, there are 78-square-meter units priced slightly higher at 100,000 yuan, 110,000 yuan, or 120,000 yuan.
Over the past two years, house prices in Zhangjiakou have dropped significantly. Chen Yao, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Association of Regional Economics, analyzed that the substantial decline in house prices in Zhangjiakou was expected. Urban development relies on industry, and Zhangjiakou cannot simply replicate the real estate policies of other cities; it should implement more attractive policies.
The topic of house prices in Zhangjiakou dropping to “cabbage prices” has stirred up the attention of netizens.
Some netizens commented: “Don’t go into seclusion in Hegang, Zhangjiakou is just over an hour’s drive from Beijing.”
Zhangjiakou is approximately 193 kilometers from Beijing. If you take a high-speed train from Beijing’s Qinghe Station, it takes about 40 minutes to reach Zhangjiakou’s Xiahuayuan Station.
Chen Juan revealed that many people buying houses in Xiahuayuan are from Beijing. They can take the high-speed train directly to Xiahuayuan from Beijing, or they can also take bus route 899 from Zhuxinzhuang Station in Changping District of Beijing. There are also families from Shandong, Inner Mongolia, and other places whose only child works in Beijing, so the parents buy a house here to be closer to their children. Then there are those who really cannot afford to buy a house in Beijing and just want a place to stay during weekends.
After this news was released, nearly 500 netizens participated in discussions on Tencent’s website.
A Tencent user, 88xxcfy, expressed confusion: “I don’t understand, it’s just a prefecture-level city, only 40 minutes away from Beijing by high-speed train, yet the house prices are only a couple of thousand yuan? Is the economy collapsing? Or is there a significant outflow of population?”
“Strange Uncle” believes: “The downward trend in house prices is inevitable. With fewer births and a poor economy, prices are still high. Speculators are no longer buying, and those in need cannot afford to.”
Some netizens also reminded others to be cautious when buying houses there.
“YP Old Man” revealed: “Don’t buy, the local authorities there simply do not abide by the law. In 2018, I purchased a cottage in Luguoxiang, Zhangbei County through a legitimate agency, but during a special period in 2020, I couldn’t go to live there, and the local authorities confiscated my house, claiming I wasn’t qualified to purchase, and refused to refund the purchase price. Despite having signed a legitimate purchase contract, the court refused to accept the case.”