Expats buying real estate

Think you can only buy one for your own use after working 1 year in China. They want to prevent speculative investment in real estate by foreigners.

any good website for seaching?
I wish there something like http://www.hongkonghomes.com/ for zhuhai.

hi there,

I would be extremly careful with such an investment in China. Sure some objects look attractive, but never forget you are in China and things here can change very quickly. Suddenly a ne law or regulation is passed and you might be out of luck . . Same as they have changed the visa situation .. maybe tomorrow it might be the real eastate situation ..

Cheers
Peter

Hello,Xela. As an real estate agent in Zhuhai ,i think i can answer you this question . You can buy an apartment here as easy as chinese ,what you need to do is go to ur coutry's embassy to translate ur name in a paper in Chinese and ask them to give you an "authoritative justice".In fact, some taxes fee for expats are even cheaper than chinese.

Does a foreign person not have to reside in Zhuhai for a year before they can buy property? I was told the one year period starts when they register with the police.

Yes, as a foreigner you can only buy ONE property for YOUR OWN USE after working in CHINA for ONE YEAR!(this regulation came into effect sometime in October 2006)This was one of the measures that the government introduced to dampened the property prices! Over the last couple of days there have been lots of programs on Zhuhai TV about the current property market, whether it is a turning point or a pause in the long term trend. Another issue to note is that Zhuhai has stop issuing Hukou with real estate purchases for locals.

hello,Paul.As i know, you don't have to have at least " ONE year period register prove" ,you just need "register prove ",if you don't have this ,you need to go to " China's justice office " (every city has an such office)to translate your passport in Chinese and then they will give a "prove" .

Hello , Dong_bei. May i ask you one question,please? Are you working at real estate ? you know what,although Zhuhai government has statemented " stop issuing HuKou" with real estate purchases for locals already . Problebly you don't know there are still a lot of new houses can get "HuKou" if you buy an apartment as long as the apartment has not be regisrated in "Zhuhai Property Center " yet,it means it is still very easy to buy an apartment with Hukou .
Ps: we just sold an apartment with Hukou today .

Why Zhuhai?

It's very nice city but gotten very expensive.

Disadvanages :

1) The wages are cheap and therefore rents are cheap. Also to remember most Chinese companies provide room and board for their workers.
2) Alot of vacant units (mostly bought by hong kong and macau residents) and northern who want hukou here which has ended.
3) Main business is tourism and real estates. Both are seasonal.
4) Getting crowded and polluted , just walk outside GouBei

Advantages:

1) Next to Macau and one hour from Hong Kong.
2) Relatively safe city compare to rest of China.
3) Entertainment is better than most city.

Me and other will suggest you do your homework before you buy. In China you don't own the land, you lease the land from the government for 99 years.

Hi

yes there is still a window of opportunities for those who needs to buy a property with Hukou. The government came out to state that as long as your documentations reaches the Zhuhai Property Center by latest May 31, this is in order to facilitate those who have already "purchased or in the process of handling the paperworks before the government came out with that regulation in April. Of course, this is China, maybe the government will have a rethink about it. You can check the full detials on zhuhai government website.http://www.zhsjsj.gov.cn/
As for foreigner buying property, as far as i know, You need to work in China for atleast 1 year before you can buy one for your own used. It depends which property developer you are buying from, the bigger and well known are unlikely to take any risk for you( in case your land title deeds doesnt get approved).

If i am not wrong, in Hong Kong you also lease the land from the government and it is even shorter than 99 years (if i am not wrong it is 50 or 70 years?).

It will be interesting to see where property prices will be after 31 May.@@

Can someone please explain the concept of Hukou?

Hukou:- A simple definition, it is the Residential Permit for the Local Chinese. There are a few ways to have a Hukou.

1. If you are a student from the north and studying in one of the Universities in Zhuhai, you can tranfer your Hukou from your hometown to the school. When you graduated you have 1 year to find a job in the Province and than you transfer your Hukou to the company you work for, if not it will revert back to your hometown.

2. You can have your Hukou "attached" to the company you work for. ( I think there is a quota limit and not every company has a Hukou facility, I am not very sure about this).

3. Before the April announcement by the government, You could have a Hukou if you purchase a property that is 75 sq meter and above.

Ivywu and Dong,

"yes there is still a window of opportunities for those who needs to buy a property with Hukou.The government came out to state that as long as your documentations reaches the Zhuhai Property Center by latest May 31, this is in order to facilitate those who have already "purchased or in the process of handling the paperworks before the government came out with that regulation in April."

Let me explain my situation, I bought an apartment in Hua Fa Century City in Jan. 2008. I am a Hong Kong citizen living overseas. There was no mention about Hukuo at the time of buying from the developer. My husband is American and as he has no chinese name, I am thinking about coming in December to do the necessary documentation so I can add his name to the property with a chinese name. Since the building is not finished, the house certificate will not be issued until 2009. Does this affect anything?

Do I have to present any document to the Zhuhai Property Center by latest May 31 to get a residential permit/Hukou?

One more question, do I and my husband need Hukuo in order to retire in Zhu Hai?

Although I am from Hong Kong, the 'Hukuo' concept is unfamiliar to me.

Thanks.

Nivek

Question

Hukou is like citizenship for special zones cities such as Zhuhai. This is to prevent rural people from rushing into the cities. If your passport is not Chinese, there is nothing to worry about. China is open door to foreign that has visa or permits. That include Hong Kong and Macau residents.

My gf and I are buying a house, in her name, because I haven't been here 1 year yet. She is from Zhanjiang and our plan has been for her to transfer her "citizenship" to Zhuhai so that she doesn't have to send her ID back home to get visas for HK and Macau.

Sounds like you are saying this is no longer a good plan? We should take possession of the house this month. Can we sneak in with paperwork before May 31 and still get her Hukou?

Thanks.

don't buy...

one word: "BUBBLE".

I will be very very careful with that. Specially when she suggest to buy the house.

Hukou(household booklet)is not a citzenship, every chinese has one. It can be in the villages etc etc and they are only for the local chinese nationals.

Nivek, since both of you are foreigners, you dont have to worry about the Hukou as long as you have a visa that allows you to enter and stay in China. If you need to stay long term, than you need to apply for a resident permit.
ddblough , unless you intend to give the house to your Gf, I dont think it is adviseable to put only her name on the land title deeds. Best is to include your name in it. Speak to your property developer about it, they might be able to come up with a solution for you. In any case, as far as I understand from HuaFa, after the keys are handded to u, they have up till 300 working days to issue you the land title deeds(so i think you can include your name).

@dong:
Sound advice.

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"I can't get no respect.............. no respect at all!"

Thanks a lot.

Nivek

As of the market today, If you buy to live then you can consider purchasing, but to buy for investment I will strongly against it. Also last word of advise, Real eState Agents are not experts as a lot foreclosure in the US are owned by Guess who, Real eState agents.