Renting an apartment in Suzhou, China EXPAT

[G Pyros]

Posting this out of curiosity among other posters. I have been assigned to a temporary EXPAT in Suzhou, China for 18 months. Went house hunting in the land of "condos/apartment" living. Literally, every housing "compound" is a group of 10-15 buildings that consist of around 30 stories condos. Typically gym & pool is extra fee with several parks for kids. The large differences in living is how the utilities are managed; separate A/C systems in each room, separate water heaters in each point of use; i.e. bathroom & kitchen. One of the surprising parts is price, ranging from 6000 RMB-18000 RMB for 140sqm - 200spm, this translates to $950-$2812.5USD/month for rent and the purchase prices being around 1,500,000 RMB - 8,800,000 RMB or $203,000-$1,375,000USD. Definitely not investor numbers Bigger Pockets investors seek for... However, there are many units coming online and a lot of inventory with some compounds at 75%-80% occupancy.  From this sounds like the Chinese investors are speculative appreciation investors. Also, every house comes furnished and a lot of accommodating for different items that would never be considered in the US, i.e. negotiating hard/soft bed, larger fridge, installing oven & installing a dryer. 

Hope you enjoy my experiences!

The last photo is very cloudy, the AQI is improving much better around 45-80. Suzhou is just a very foggy/cloudy city that is surrounded by lakes. 

[Ryan Murdock]

I spent a year in Hong Kong and mainland China years ago. My 600 sq/ft "luxury" apartment looked a lot like yours. I'm 6'3" and the bed was about 5'3" with walls on either end. Good times....

I used to think it was cloudy too until I realized that it was always clear on Sundays - that's when all the factories are shut down.

The pool and gym in my complex were closed daily from 11am-1pm so as "to give people two choices - a morning or afternoon session - instead of just one". 

I couldn't get out of there fast enough.