In an effort to serve Shenzhen’s large and growing population of short-term residents, including the many expats in the city, Fuzhido Furniture Factory in Longgang District is offering a “large-scale” furniture rental scheme, according to a report by the Southern Metropolis Daily yesterday.

Xu Xianglin, head of the company’s Shenzhen branch, said “Fuzhidao rents new furniture for a 30-percent deposit and a monthly payment of 2.5 percent of an item’s total cost,” according to a report today by Shenzhen Daily today.

“All the furniture for rent is brand new and we also offer delivery and installation services. When the lease ends, customers can choose to return the furniture or buy it for 30 percent of the full price. If a customer rents a piece of furniture for more than five years, they can buy it for 1 yuan. They can get furniture they like without big financial pressure,” Xu said, according to the Daily.

“Customers won’t be able to get back their deposits only when there is serious damage, such as broken legs on a table or couch,” he said. “We will still accept the furniture if there are some ordinary scratches because the furniture will be remade after it is returned and then sold again in secondhand markets.”

Meanwhile, the cost of renting in Shenzhen is on the rise, with a separate report out by the Daily today reporting that the average price of new homes in Shenzhen remains above 22,000 yuan (US$3,566) per square meter.

It follows a skew of reports out last month on the rising prices of housing in the city, which is also one of the most expensive cities in the world in terms of property relative to local incomes.

“The high prices are not only sticking around in central districts like Futian. The average price of a new home in remote Longgang District exceeded 18,000 yuan per square meter last month,” the Daily added in its report titled “Local home prices refusing to drop.”

Residents who are interested in leasing furniture from the city’s first truly large-scale furniture rental company can call 400-8862888.

Photo credit: Emblem Furniture

The decrease in the price of vegetables was attributed to improvements in the weather conditions while the 1% decrease in the price of pork was put down to the ongoing H7N9 scare. The prices of chicken, duck and eggs fell by 5.5%, 5.6% and 1.5% respectively.

However, compared with last year, commodity prices are on an upward trajectory. Housing is up 3.7% and the overall food price index is up 0.64%.

Among the things that have increased in price significantly are beef, which is up 22.4%; medical fees, which are up 22.1%; and household goods and services, which are up 14.7%.

For this reason, keeping up with the Lius and Zhangs (or just making ends meet) is set to be as tough as ever.

The Savills report reveals that in Shanghai, which sits at the top of the list, the average middle class family has to save for approximately 30 years in order to purchase a 100 sqm apartment. Tied for second place are Guangzhou and Beijing, in which families must save for an average of 28 years to purchase an equivalent property.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Savills’ statistics also show that the price-to-income ratio (PIR) in several first- and second-tier cities in mainland China is in fact higher than for cities overseas such as Stockholm, Sydney, and even Zurich.

The study also shows that at the same time that income and dwelling size for urban residents has remained roughly stable since 2001, property prices have continued to rise steadily.

PIR figures in China’s top 10 sample cities have soared during every year included in the study, due largely to rising housing prices, save for the last two years when cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou saw PIR figures dip slightly as the result of regulation and market controls.

With regard to the future of housing prices, Liu Deyang, president of Hong Kong-based investment management company First Pacific, remains optimistic that the market will be able to lower prices by between 10-20% over the coming year.

The family’s four houses, which occupied a total area of 800 sqm, were built in Pazhou more than a decade ago and with proper approval from the city. Then in 2010, the city decided it wanted more land for its Pazhou Pagoda park, and the Chen brothers’ homes were thus slated to be torn down.

They then became nailhousers when the city’s settlement offer, which would only have landed them a property worth no more than 4,500 RMB/sqm and no larger than 120 sqm—too small, the men argued, facing the loss of houses averaging 200 sqm apiece, and too low a return on their family’s investment. They’d settle, the Chen brothers said, for an offer closer to the market price for their properties, around 40,000 RMB/sqm.

Then in October 2010 the chengguan moved in one day when the Chens were out, tearing each of their houses down. Police declined to establish a case, saying the chengguan were ‘just doing their job’ and that city authorities had issued a document granting permission for the Chen homes to be demolished.

Now, in this case which pits China’s property law against the self-justified authority of a few government departments in Guangzhou, with a judge having found the chengguan‘s actions illegal, procedures issued in the judgment remain in stalemate.

A lawyer for the Chen brothers says they still have a chance at seeking compensation, based on the market value of their homes, but only if the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court upholds the original judgment. A verdict is expected soon.

Home sweet home

Inflation is hitting China hard. As costs of pork, vegetables, housing and other necessities rise, people are being forced to cutback on expenses and risk seeing part of their savings washed away.

One group that is particularly susceptible to inflation is students, seeing as they don’t often have much money to begin with. A story in the Southern Metropolis Daily reports many university students unable to pay rising rental costs are being forced to seek alternatives. As a result, a makeshift structure of “box dorms” has been loosely constructed near their university in Guangzhou. Nanfang Reporter Katei Wang provides the partial translations below:

These “box dorms” are made of prefab houses and are divided into 4 areas. There is a total of 120 houses with each area having its own iron gate. Each dorm is 18 square meters: boys live on the ground floor and girls live in the first floor. The dorms have air-conditioning, a water heater, spotlight, 8 beds and other facilities.

Chen, a student from Zhanjiang city in the south of Guangdong Province, failed to rent a house in the village nearby the campus so he moved into a “box house” where he just pays RMB150 per person monthly with other 3 peers.