How Do We Find if Certain Areas Will Be Annexed or Taken Over? (Xianghe, Hebei)?

Hi Everyone,

My wife bought a small apartment in Xianghe, Hebei. It is a bus ride away from Beijing.

1. There was always rumor that:

a. Xianghe would eventually be annexed by the Beijing district
b. Subways, high-speed rail, etc. to Beijing would be built

2. Is there any reliable, official source to see if this is true?

3. In the future, I think the best way is to stick to Tier-1 cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen.

Especially for families, they need to live in that province (esp. Beijing) to get the public schools there.

4. While homes in city center are the same price per meter as NYC, London, HK city center, there seem to be apartments within the very outskirts, that still qualify.

It would take a two hour bus ride + subway each day to get from a 50-100K USD Beijing apartment to city center. But, it still seems very worth it.

Contrast that to NYC or London, where someone would pay 200-500K USD for the same thing (live outside the city, and commute to Manhattan).

5. Any opinions?

Some cities are very  open about their explansion plans.  Others prefer to keep things quiet so that land for new subway stations and other new infrastructure needs can be acquired for current prices without paying a special "the city will be here soon!" markup rate.  Ask some long term residents how and when they found out about other city and rail expansions.

Personally, I'm just waiting for the flying car that XPeng is working on to solve my local transportation issues, although it won't do much for my 3 meter commute from my bedroom door to my office chair.