Renovating rental homes a trend
Print Edition
Although he is not an interior designer, Feng Su has revamped nine apartments he rented in Beijing during the past decade. In one instance, he repainted a tainted wall and replaced the door handles and all the ceiling lamps.
鈥淢y parents were against the renovation and complained that I wasted money on properties of landlords. Meanwhile, my landlords also raised their eyebrows wondering why I couldn鈥檛 settle for what I got,鈥 recalled Feng, CEO of Haohaozhu, an interior design ideas sharing platform.
Feng鈥檚 enthusiasm in interior renovation has found a much wider audience among China鈥檚 youth. A rapidly increasing number of content related to apartment revamp has appeared on social media and knowledge sharing platforms.
Chen Lu, a 26-year-old scriptwriter, became overwhelmed by interior design inquiries after she shared her renovation experience on the platform.
Her kitchen cupboards looked like solid wood after she covered the surface with colored stickers. With discounts of up to 80 percent, she purchased second-hand furniture online, such as a bed and sofa. In the end, it cost her about 6,000 yuan (US$838) to renovate a two-bedroom apartment in Beijing.
To fastidiously revamp a rented apartment is foreign to many Chinese. 鈥淧eople were more keen on buying than renting an apartment,鈥 said Liu Lu, a professor of economics from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.
He explained that homeownership used to be vital as it was regarded as a smart investment and was often associated with dowries and access to better schooling. Renting, therefore, was nothing more than a matter of expediency.
However, high property prices in China鈥檚 big cities have forced many young people to settle in rental houses.
According to recent statistics from Lianjia, a major Chinese real-estate agent, a Beijing apartment on average costs 61,526 yuan per square meter, which is equal to what a fresh Chinese graduate earns in a year.
As renting becomes more common, more young Chinese have started to express their personal aesthetic preferences in their rented apartments.
鈥淔or the younger generation, housing not only means a place to sleep but also to live, which reflects their longing for a life with better quality,鈥 said Xu Hua, a sociology professor from Anhui University.
For some, it is also an economical choice to renovate an old shabby apartment rather than renting a well-equipped suite. 鈥淚t鈥檚 better to rent an empty apartment and save money to purchase things like furniture and decorations,鈥 Chen said.
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