Apartment Prices

Please give us AVERAGE prices for your city, not spectacular deals other people couldn't reasonably expect to match. We'll also assume your basic Chinese apartments, not those gated expat-housing things.

Suzhou, Jiangsu. Prices are for nice but not ostentatious local 2-3 bedroom apartments; you probably don't really want them to take you to Funkytown.

Downtown: 1800-3500 RMB/month
Suzhou Industrial Park (Chinese neighborhoods): 2500-4000 RMB/month
Suzhou New District: 1500-3000 RMB/month

Rental contracts at least 3 months; month-by-month very hard to negotiate. Deposits are generally one month of rent. Apartment agent fees are also one month; if you're extremely lucky you might nego it down to half the rent. Beware of landlords; many, many are unscrupulous rheumy-eyed weasels.

Zhuhai, Guangdong
Downtown (Jida): studio - 1300-1600 RMB for newer ones; within 1000 for older ones
1-bedroom: 1500-2000RMB
2-bedroom: 1700-2800RMB (depending on how new the building is)

Ningxi: 2/3-bedroom - 1400-2800RMB

Rent is taken month by month, deposit is 2 month. Minimum contract is 6 month. If less, then rent is more expensive.  Also, the tenant pays management fee which depends on how new the house is (1-2rmb per square meter) and according to FULL square meters the apartment occupies (e.g. our living area is 75sqm, but we are paying management fee for 90 - can't tell you exactly how they count it). AND, a lot depends on your view - if it is a seaview, definitely rent is higher. Apartment agent's fee is 20-50% of 1 month rent.
P.S. Most of the apartments have AC only in bedrooms, not living rooms. And of course for those who don't know - in the South of China there is NO central heating. So people use electric heaters. Normally the temperature in Guangdong doesn't go below +15C but last winter it was quite low hence very cold. Consider the fact that it is a place with high humidity so dehumidifiers are a useful necessity. Most of apartments use gas cylinder for cooking and some for heating up the water. Usually no central hot water. Nowadays new buildings install central gas system that uses cards. Electricity and water are still counted by meter.
Internet is quite cheap. One doesn't have to have a landline to install it (we are paying for unlimited ADSL 720RMB a year + 100RMB installation fee. Internet is 2MB - quite fast, even though we have wireless at home and 3 computers on it, it is still quite fast even when we simultaneously download stuff).
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Beijing:
*western downtown* (within central and west 2nd and 3rd ring roads)
2-bedroom - 2500-3500
3-bedroom - 3200-5000

Rent is paid every 3 months (some cases - 6), most of landlords rent out for minimum 1 year. Management fee and heating is supposed to be paid by the landlord. Apartment agent's fee is 1 month but the tenant usually pays it if the apartment cost is less than 3000-3500RMB. Rent doesn't really depend on how close to subway and markets the apartment is.
Gas and electricity are prepaid by card. In some places so is water. All apartments have central heating but some new houses have heating connected to gas so one ends up paying big gas bills during winter (in this case landlord won't be responsible for heating).
Unlimited ADSL is usually 100-150 a month depending on speed and provider.

Shenzhen (Nanshan District), Guangdong

One bedroom 1600-2500
Two bedroom  2800-3400
Three bedroom 3000-3500
However, I do know one person who is renting an apartment for 800/mo. But he doesn't have air conditioning.

Deposit is usually two months' rent. Half month's rent for real estate agent fee. Management fees depend on size of the apartment (150-300/mo.).

Rental prices have been rising because people are not buying apartments because the sale prices are going down...in Chinese logic, this means more people want to rent apartments while waiting for prices to bottom out, thus justifying rising rental prices.

I didn't shop around, so can't give general range.  I'll share what I had.

Dongguan, Guangdong - 3 bedroom apartment in a new building was 3000/month.  Paid two months deposit before moving in and got it all back at the end.  Signed a one year lease and moved out (my choice) after the lease ended.  Landlords were cream of the crop, decent, honest folks.  Repairs were handled quickly at no expense to me.  Landlady paid electric and internet/phone bills (so I didn't have to fuss with them) and I reimbursed her.  Management fee was my responsibility and was about 220/month.  Landlords paid real estate agent fee.

Other apartments in the same building were about the same price or higher.  I looked at a couple of 4 bedrooms and they wanted 4000 or 4500 for those.

Rumor has it that the complex in the downtown area where lots of laowai live go for about 8000/mth.  One day I'm going to pretend I'm rich and get an agent to show me around, just for fun.

You guys seem to pay a lot for your apts.  I have a 3 bedroom apt. in Guangzhou in Clifford Estates for only 1500 a month.  Recently remodeled, gated off from the rest of china. Has it's own fleet of provate vehicles going all over the city. as well as direct to HK, Zhuhai/Macau, besides the city busses that stop here.  Also, a small shopping complex, restaurant area, hotel, resort, hospital, etc.

BrandeX, you are one of those who got a good deal on apartment. My friend here in Zhuhai has a 3-bedroom, fully furnished etc and he only pays 1400. Because his landlord is a rich lady and doesn't really care much for money. He's been living there for 2,5 years and rent has never gone up. But his remained the same

A general idea in Nanning is rent is about 10 CNY per square metre or so. My apartment is 120 sq m and costs 1200 per month. We rent out a 80 sq m apartment at 800 per month. This varies up and down a little, but usually about 10% or so.

Asking prices on both was about 20% higher.

No updates in five years? As we all know, rental prices are going up pretty much everywhere in China.

In the not-so-posh, nowhere-near-downtown of Guangzhou, I pay 3300/month for 90 sq. meters, 2 bedroom plus office, one bath, excellent kitchen, good appliances, good furniture, screens on every window, all the details in place, A/C in every room, and located in a nicer-than-most complex.  All buildings have elevators, there's a central complex with an outdoor pool, indoor gym and other amenities. This is a typical price for a place this size that is a 30-40 minute city bus ride from downtown.

A friend just rented a place that's not in  downtown, but in the more central area of the city, which is close to the metro line and costs 2500/month. It's a 2 bedroom bare bones in some old-but-clean, five story buildings without elevators. The furniture is very worn and minimal. Not a single appliance of any kind: no water dispenser, no water heater, no clothes washer, no A/C, no refrigerator. Nothing electric included. It's just amazing how expensive such a place can be. The only thing good about it is the bathroom is decorated well.

Wow yeah, the info on this thread is totally out of date.

Rents in Beijing vary a huge amount based on location.

These days a decent 2 bedroom in Haidian costs around 3000-5500rmb a month, depending again on location within Haidian. We paid, as of about a year ago, 3200 a month for a 60sqm place that was absolutely bare bones, had a horrible layout, and was in a crap complex. My parents paid 5400 a month for a brand new 80sqm two bedroom. The location was nothing special though, kind of a brand new complex in a sort of iffy/transitional area. At the end of the year the landlords wanted to raise the rent up to 6K a month, which was ridiculous.

Right now we rent a HUGE place technically in Shijingshan, but right on the border of Haidian, 197sqm, near the Yuquan Lu subway station, and pay 5900, but the location is over a kilometer down a street with absolutely public transport. You have to either rely on three wheelers or black taxis to get out to the main road. It is also on the 6th floor -- a penthouse -- but no elevator. Still, it is a great deal. This same apartment in another part of Haidian would easily run over 10k a month.

If you want to live in Chaoyang or somesuch you're looking at much higher rents. Xicheng and Dongcheng can be relatively affordable, but a lot of the places are dumps. If you want something nice and not run down the price will increase a lot.

From 2008-2011 I lived in Changchun, a village of about 7 million average people. Our school provided an apartment that wasn't palatial, yet wasn't army barracks either. I had a 80 square metre, 2 bedroom place that was clean(ish) and close to the school and each other. We found out the place went for 800 a month. A decent home could be had for 1,000

At one time we considered buying a place but not that one. New, clean, western type condos (around 100 metres²) went for about 3,000 monthly. These places had all the amenities

Here in Qingdao, I've seen ultra-modern places go for 7,000. For me, it better come with a live in maid and chef! Having a Chinese g/f who is a little belligerent and frugal has given us a real bargain. 200 square metres (two floors) for 3,000 a month. We lucked out as the owners lost their other tenent in their other bigger house. They couldn't afford to have the place vacant for too long, so we gave them the best offer and they accepted

200 square metres (two floors) for 3,000 a month.

 

Honestly, I think it would be difficult to find anything liveable for under 4000 a month in Beijing. My husband and I rent a well decorated but tiny studio downtown for 4200. We considered renting a fairly clean and modern pingfang (a part of one of the old courtyard houses). That was only about 2000- but it also didn't have a bathroom or heating apart from the normal a/c unit. Even outside the 5th ring we couldn't find anything under 4k- sure, you got an extra bedroom for that price but the location was so far out it hardly seemed worth it. All the apartments we saw in the 3000-4000 range had mold everywhere, broken floorboards, creepy furniture, and bathrooms that hadn't seen a mop in years.

You guys seem to pay a lot for your apts.  I have a 3 bedroom apt. in Guangzhou in Clifford Estates for only 1500 a month.  Recently remodeled, gated off from the rest of china. Has it's own fleet of provate vehicles going all over the city. as well as direct to HK, Zhuhai/Macau, besides the city busses that stop here.  Also, a small shopping complex, restaurant area, hotel, resort, hospital, etc.

This is now 2600 a month.

Still less expensive than in Guangzhou proper. Not to mention the zombie repelling fences. When are they putting the moat in?

Oh there IS a moat on the side between Zhongcun Village and Clifford.

I almost forgot. That's on the way to Da Fu Shan, right? BTW, what about Panyu taxis now. Are they metered or still need to be negotiated every time?