@tiger If a buyer is investing in a particular city for a reason they wouldn't have to consider what they could have earned elsewhere. Overthinking

@ vicar: Yeah, it's sad to think of a house or an apartment as simply a matter of financial investment.

Wife and I just bought an apartment in a still-under-construction building located in Chenggong near subway station:

6,000rmb/sq meter.

Buying to be near her future workplace and avoid brutal commute.

I worry about lots of things (earthquake sturdy? shabby construction?) but have to trust her instincts since I'm the foreigner and she's the local with past real estate dealings.

They had this lottery for choosing apartment layout and floor.

A couple hundred people in attendance had plopped down a deposit for opportunity to participate.

There was an enormous, ear-blasting sustained burst of firecrackers, names and numbers flashed on a big screen, then the DJ-like barker read out the names of those successful in the first round.

They immediately went inside to pick their apts.

Then the second round picks, etc.

This went on for a number of rounds and finally my wife's name was called.

By this time our first choice layout and floors were long gone, so we settled on our third choice.

But after awhile this didn't sit well and I finally told my wife to cancel our selection.

She went and found someone to complain about it and went into her special outraged anger mode (seldom directed at me fortunately).

It worked better than expected.

They cancelled and actually offered us our first choice layout on a good floor.

Seems that they had held back certain apartments for who knows what reason, but in the end we got what we wanted.

Just hope we don't get bumped later by someone with greater guanxi.

Not sure why my posts are separated into paragraphs, one sentence per.

Anyone know why?

@ vicar.
If they are thinking of investing, then elsewhere is not a city. It is the stock market, the bank/mutual/building society paying higher interest rates on savings, etc. etc.

Right. So they'll be looking to invest in the safest possible option for a home in Kunming.

buying a home is big financial commitment with ongoing outgoings. I often wonder why people would think buying a home should not be considered as an investment. rationale, please? :-)

Location, convenience, style, use, sentiment, personal choice, to name a few reasons. People buy on a whim and sell at a loss all the time. Why? They like the property and can afford it.

I would have thought, location is a kind of investment, the right neighbourhood will be a safer bet. style is also a kind of investment, investment in oneself to show what kind of person you are (to your friends?). convenience is a kind of investment, it says, your time is more valuable, in reality, you are "buying" more time. they might not look all that "tangible" in term of "traditional concept" of investing. in fact, they are. :-)

@Bluebird
NICE AREA
Expo Garden, assuming you meant Kunming. Issue - pricey. Dianchi - pricey AND you need to beware buildings on reclaimed land - rumor has it some homes are sinking.

For a REALLY nice area just outside of Kunming, look at Fuxian Lake, behind the Hilton Hotel. The lake is clean, beautiful views, great place to vacation (until the riffraff move in). Great seafood (aqua food?) nearby. Still pricey.

GOOD PRICE
Any of the older apartments with no elevator. Top floors (6F-8F) command lower prices - because...no elevator. Depending on your purpose - try to stay inside the 2nd Ring Road (er huan lu)

DEAL
See HFCAMPO's et al list of posts on this matter. ANYTIME you buy real estate, you should familiarize yourself with the environment. Any industrial plants nearby (they tend to pollute EVERYTHING including the groundwater), traffic, schools, shopping, groceries, neighbors, parking, utilities (telephone, internet, water & water pressure, gas, electric, solar, sewage etc ad infinitum).

SUNLIGHT
This is actually also related to the alleged ancient mystical art of FengShui. Do you prefer morning sunlight, evening sunsets or BOTH. Natural sunlight affects the natural "mood" of an abode.

The internet abounds with new homeowner's checklists.

Oh...and LAST piece of advice - NEVER live on the ground floor of low or high rise older apartment. For those rare or frequent occasions when the sewer pipes backup - you'll understand why.

Good luck with your search.