A friend and I today walked past an apartment complex that overlooks Golden Rooster Lake (JinJiHu) in Suzhou. The faces of the apartments are dirty and worn. He lives in one of the apartments, which now sell for more than US$1 million. He rents, though. He’s had numerous problems in the apartment, from leaking pipes through faulty sliding doors to a recalcitrant toilet through electricals that shut down when he and his apartment mate run the washer/dryer. I said to him as we strolled down the sidewalk, “So that’s what a million dollar apartment looks like?” We laughed. “When did they build those things,” I asked. “Five years ago? Six?” He answered, “Six”. I told him I remembered when construction had started, even went into the sales office to pick up a brochure. At the time the apartments were facing the lake were selling for about US$150,000. I told him, “Even if I had a million dollars I wouldn’t buy the place.”

Later on in the day he sent me the link to a website that’s translated the words to a popular Chinese song that’s just gone viral in China. It’s about the stratospheric heights to which property prices have aspired, and the dashed dreams of average Chinese to ever manage home ownership. It’s a witty and sad video, very creative. Highly recommended: Huang Zheng’s “Sell” Music Video

NOTE: If I was one of the characters in the video, my head would burst.

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Image Credit: World Wide Real Estate: The China Bubble