housing in China

I don't get housing in China.  more specifically, i don't get how people afford to live here and how it makes financial sense to buy and renovate a place....

First of all, to buy a house in Shanghai and Beijing is prohibitively expensive.  and by house, i mean an apartment... NOT a condo, but an apartment.  The average salary here in the city: 3000yuan/mth, or ~36K/year - the same number as in North America.  and yet apartments here?  "cheapest" one is my cousin's at 800,000yuan - that's 267 mths of salary, or 22years, assuming u don't need to eat and have no other expenses other than the interest-free mortgage.  most expensive one i've lived in (the one with the Audi, Lexus') - 8,000,000yuan... i.e. 220years of an interest-free mortgage for the average bloke.

Fine, housing prices is just that.  but that just gets u that area, that piece of high-rise 'land' that u've technically only rented from the Chinese government.  It comes with nothing else.  If you buy a new place, you basically get cement, and more cement.  Forget appliances, you get no water pipes, no sewer pipes, no toilet, no shower, no sink, no heating, no a/c, no paint, no floor other than cement. you basically just get an empty box.  THAT is what costs >>500,000yuan.  the next step: renovations. 

Renovations can cost anywhere between 90,000 (my aunt's place).  that price included water pipes, sewage pipes, electrical wiring, and all of the other 'basics' that we never even think about!!!  plus paint on the wall, doors, and furniture.  that price is a BARGAIN!!!  my JJ's renovation cost 1,000,000yuan!!!!!!

Fine, where you live is pretty. ... BUT!!!  renovations here do NOT increase your property value like our renovations do.  when you re-sell your place, all of ur renovation money will have gone to shit.  why?  cuz no one else wants to live in "someone else's" place.  99% of the buying population will and do tear down EVERYTHING in the 'old' apt and re-pay the >100,000 yuan as renovation money that will again go to waste when they sell the place.  think about the amount of GARBAGE produced!!!  Leehom needs to add this to his itinerary of things to talk about.  seriously.  its A LOT of completely unnecessary construction waste!!!

so if my JJ ever sells her place, she would've wasted 1,000,000yuan - 28 YEARS of salary for an average non-eating no expenses bloke. 

note again: average income is 36K!  or put it in better perspective, just convert all of the 'yuan' into 'dollars' with the numbers staying the same, and imagine an average canadian or american paying that price for an APARTMENT.  not a mansion, not a house, not even a fucking townhouse... but an apartment.  $1 MILLION for renovations alone!?!?  geeeebus!