Shanghai exec finds U.S. land cheaper than Chinese KFC?

by **Juan_Tamad** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:58 am

The keys to your new apartment in the United States are closer than you think. .

Shrewd Shanghainese might have found a smart resolution to the soaring real estate market.

One Shanghai executive recently purchased a 1,000-square-meter plot in Florida for US$8,800 via an Internet auction organized by Chinese real estate website Soufun.com (搜房网), reported Guangzhou Daily.

The buyer, who wishes to go by the pseudonym Ye Zi (叶子), is a female human resources officer at a Shanghai manufacturing company.

After bidding for the land together with 70 other netizens, Ye Zi obtained the right to purchase the land, which is on Greenbriar Boulevard near Miami.

The unit price for Ye Zi’s new property is RMB 57.2 per square meter, a fraction of the average property price in Shanghai, and is even cheaper than a KFC family combo in China -- which costs RMB 65.

Zhuang Nuo (庄诺), chairman and general manager of Soufun.com, said that that Soufun set up the auction after a U.S. real estate investment company, United Solutions of American, entrusted it to find new owners.

Ye Zi and her husband signed the land-purchase agreement with United Solutions of American on July 19, and are currently waiting to receive the official title deeds.

by **minyanville** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:10 am

interesting...
on the other hand, for 8k, i can buy whole bunch of kfc...

by **TVnewsguy** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:55 am

Juan_Tamad wrote:
After bidding for the land together with 70 other netizens, Ye Zi obtained the right to purchase the land, which is on Greenbriar Boulevard near Miami.

This part of the Guangzhou Daily story is wrong. The actual address and city are different. Greenbriar is the name of one of the entities that previously owned the land. The empty lot is part of a larger tract in Fort Myers, Florida, which is 250km from Miami on Florida's west coast. The reported sale price of USD8800 is accurate, and is considerably higher than the most recent assessed value of the property.

by **Kief** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:00 pm

So what are these bumpkins gonna do with 1000sq meter of swamp land? Build something? Contractors in the US charge US rates.

by **gino** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:10 pm

In ICS some prospective investors were saying they want to buy now and sell when the US econ. is back on its feet and make big profit. Seems like they just find a nice parking lot for their cash for the next 10 years or so.

Correct me if I am wrong is the Western part of Florida not going to be flooded when the water levels will rise one day.

by **Juan_Tamad** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:16 pm

gino wrote:In ICS some prospective investors were saying they want to buy now and sell when the US econ. is back on its feet and make big profit. Seems like they just find a nice parking lot for their cash for the next 10 years or so.

Correct me if I am wrong is the Western part of Florida not going to be flooded when the water levels will rise one day.

Will be good for gator farms

by **gino** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:32 pm

aren't they escape quite often :yum::

by **Michael** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:43 pm

Its happening, not just in Florida, but other places. Vancouver Canada is a big spot for mainland investors to buy real estate ( though the deals are not as good there ) . In the US, you can get a pretty nice McMansion for the same prices as a 2 BR flat in Shanghai ( or much less ) .

Still not quite sure that the US market has hit bottom.. still a lot of people getting laid off and a lot of foreclosures. Real estate will make the turn when the job market picks up.

by **yunnanexpat** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:29 pm

Michael wrote:Real estate will make the turn when the job market picks up.

This may not happen for another 10 or 20 years.

My friends and my brothers are all waiting for the market to 'turn around so I can sell and get my money back.' They are looking to recover their 250k downpayment. I no longer tell anyone that the market is not coming back and they won't get their money back ever.

By 'ever' I mean that someone who bought a USA house from 2000-2008 will not see the same price again within their lifetimes. Longterm, inflation-adjusted, RRE prices in the USA have risen 1.5% above the rate of inflation, consumer price index increases and dollar depreciation, per annum since 1890 or so. Houses are not an investment they are a place to live.

The value of them cannot increase at a rate faster than core inflation or income growth unless there is a bubble or lending standards are loosened.

Run a spreadsheet. Cut the value of an asset -40% and then calculate how many years of 1.5% appreciation it will take to get back to -0-.

by **.RB.** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:34 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_a ... ice_bubble

Prices were highest in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1989, with choice properties fetching over 100 million yen (approximately $1 million US dollars) per square meter ($93,000 per square foot). Prices were only marginally less in other large business districts of Tokyo. By 2004, prime "A" property in Tokyo's financial districts had slumped to less than 1 percent of its peak, and Tokyo's residential homes were less than a tenth of their peak....