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A small potato's take on veggies, housing
By Wang Yong |
December 14, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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AS a diligent house husband who regularly shops for food, I have found vegetable prices falling sharply in the past few weeks.
I used to buy greens for 2 yuan (29 US cents) per 500 grams, but in the past two weeks I have bought them for 0.5 yuan per 500 grams. Many other vegetables are cheaper too - except carrots and tomatoes. This is thanks to government intervention to reduce the supply cost of vegetables by trimming toll fees for vegetable transport, among other measures.
How happy would I be then, as a small potato, had I an affordable apartment of my own.
On Saturday, my wife and I scouted some suburban areas for an affordable apartment. In one area, the average selling price of an apartment built around 2000 soared to 28,000 yuan per square meter from just 18,000 yuan per square meter last year. All it took to change the price landscape was a newly opened subway line and sellers' (note: not real estate developers') unchecked speculative motive.
I was wondering, on that warm Saturday afternoon, why housing prices kept rising despite government regulation while food prices began to fall because of government regulation.
Speculation was certainly wilder in real estate than in agriculture, but fundamentally speaking, urbanization gone amok has left a city no more land for development. Urban housing prices won't come down unless urbanization slows down.
China still has some arable land for vegetables, and that's why vegetable prices can be lowered temporarily to the great relief of small potatoes like me. When the day comes to claim most arable land for urban use, you will see a doubling of urban housing prices and vegetable prices.
I used to buy greens for 2 yuan (29 US cents) per 500 grams, but in the past two weeks I have bought them for 0.5 yuan per 500 grams. Many other vegetables are cheaper too - except carrots and tomatoes. This is thanks to government intervention to reduce the supply cost of vegetables by trimming toll fees for vegetable transport, among other measures.
How happy would I be then, as a small potato, had I an affordable apartment of my own.
On Saturday, my wife and I scouted some suburban areas for an affordable apartment. In one area, the average selling price of an apartment built around 2000 soared to 28,000 yuan per square meter from just 18,000 yuan per square meter last year. All it took to change the price landscape was a newly opened subway line and sellers' (note: not real estate developers') unchecked speculative motive.
I was wondering, on that warm Saturday afternoon, why housing prices kept rising despite government regulation while food prices began to fall because of government regulation.
Speculation was certainly wilder in real estate than in agriculture, but fundamentally speaking, urbanization gone amok has left a city no more land for development. Urban housing prices won't come down unless urbanization slows down.
China still has some arable land for vegetables, and that's why vegetable prices can be lowered temporarily to the great relief of small potatoes like me. When the day comes to claim most arable land for urban use, you will see a doubling of urban housing prices and vegetable prices.
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