As I’ve said many times on this blog, barring any drastic changes - like a recession or a dramatic construction boom - to the housing market in San Francisco, it is impossible for me to buy a home in the city I grew up in. At this point it’s not even sad anymore, simply an accepted reality. It’s the reason why I have a Porsche 911 GT3 to play around with, representing a portion of my savings that would otherwise go towards downpayment on a house.
It seems my original hometown of Guangzhou, China, have a similar housing problem to San Francisco: it’s practically unaffordable for the typical middle-class earner. This is really surprising, because unlike the zoning quagmire we have here in the Bay Area, cities in Asia have no issues building super tall and dense apartments. So it’s difficult to understand how Guangzhou would have high housing costs, given that developers can build apartments as tall as the earth would hold a building upright (in theory, at least).
One condition I didn’t account for is the enormous population that resides in greater Guangzhou area, some 12 million. Therefore, though it looks like there should be enough supply for everyone, the demand is as overwhelming as it is here in San Francisco. Especially so in Guangzhou’s core that surrounds the Pear River on both shores: the high-paying jobs are mostly within that area, and who wouldn’t want to live closer to their work? Keep in mind that people work longer hours in Asia compared to our typical 40-hour weeks; a long commute would obliterate any spare personal time.
Due to these conditions, even my family’s many decades old apartment building, in what used to be a rather crap part of old Guangzhou, is now worth quite a significant sum. The city have developed far beyond what we could’ve imagined before immigrating to the States, and because our place lies inside the city’s core, its location is very desirable. My aunt receives soliciting calls constantly, asking if our apartment is for sale.
I guess I take some misery-loves-company points in knowing that Chinese people my age have the same problem with housing affordability. However, at least they can apply for government assistance - pseudo communist country, after all - I’ve got nothing but my proverbial boot-straps.
It was all yellow.