Why are houses in Hegang so cheap?
As someone who was also born in a small fourth-tier city in Heilongjiang, I am really familiar with the city of Hegang. So let me talk about my observations and understanding of Hegang.
Hegang was still a very good small town in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was a relatively famous coal town in the three northeastern provinces and even the whole country. Relying on the local coal resources, although the living standard of the people in the small city was not as good as that of Daqing, the richest city in Heilongjiang at that time, the local people living in a quiet corner were still relatively wealthy. The industries here are mainly coal mining and processing related businesses. Residents are also mainly concentrated in several large state-owned coal companies. In the 1990s, a house of 70 to 80 square meters there cost around 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. Of course, this price is considered to be in the central location of the local area.
However, with the gradual depletion of local coal resources in Hegang, and the reform of state-owned enterprises implemented by the country in the 1990s. Many former employees of state-owned enterprises either actively or passively left their original workplaces and began to choose their own careers. But this road is not easy to walk. People who came out soon discovered that the original economic model that the city had developed for decades was now unsustainable. A large number of people could no longer rely on coal-related industries for reemployment. But there are no other industries in the city that allow freelancers to maintain their livelihoods. There is no way that a large number of local young and middle-aged people have chosen to leave Hegang and seek development in other larger cities since 2000. At the beginning, most of them were Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang. Later, most people chose to go to the southern coastal development cities.
Twenty years later, those who left Hegang in the early 2000s have settled in other cities. Their lives will undoubtedly be better than those in Hegang’s current city. Those who left are no longer willing to go back. . Of course, it is not just them themselves, but also their children, who are able to bring the old man from Hegang to the city where he lives now. In this way, Hegang, where the population is gradually losing, has become more and more unnoticed. "Dead City".
Most of the people who stay in Hegang now work in a small number of state-owned enterprises, government agencies and institutions, or in supporting service industries. But the overall trend is that older people and those with lower education levels dominate. The entire city has little innovation capability, and no new industries have been introduced to the local area in the past few decades. The wages of local people are generally low, with the average monthly wage being around 1,500 yuan. With the low wages, there is little purchasing power and purchasing demand. Fortunately, local products are cheap. For example, food prices are about a quarter lower than those in similar cities in the South.
Houses are even cheaper. As long as there is no demand for purchase, locals or permanent residents here have houses, and many of them are two or three units. Moreover, houses in the north are not as good as houses in the south. They have their own carrying costs, mainly in addition to community property fees and heating costs every winter. Take an 80-square-meter house as an example. The annual heating bill is about more than 2,000 yuan. Even if you don't live there, you still have to pay. Think about it, who would be willing to invest in a house that doesn't make any money and will lose money when you put it into your hands.
There may be many reasons why houses in Hegang are cheap, but the fundamental reason is that the local economy is too poor. It lacks the production and consumption vitality that a city should have. At the same time, the problem cannot be solved for a long time, so the situation becomes worse and worse. Of course, the 15,000 yuan house purchased by the woman in the news report is also a special case. I understand that the main reason is that the location of the house is relatively poor in Hegang, and it is also an apartment. In the central area of Hegang City, the current average house price is about 3,000-4,000, and it is normal for a house to cost 20,000 to 300,000 yuan. However, there is a serious phenomenon of price but no market. However, housing prices are still very competitive compared to other southern cities.
The reason why the houses in Hegang are so popular now is in the words of a netizen: "Life is too difficult now. After struggling in society for several years, I have been really hit, and I have become more aware of it." Since I can't involve others, I want to see if there is any good place to lie down and spend the rest of my life.
Undoubtedly, small towns with housing prices of RMB 10,000 to RMB 20,000 are indeed very attractive, but I still want to advise everyone that it is relatively easy to lie down in such a small town when you first arrive, but as time goes by, you will find that it is not easy to sleep here. It's uncomfortable because there are no jobs suitable for young people to develop here, and your life will be unsustainable. Moreover, the decadent atmosphere of the entire city can easily make you unable to stand up after staying there for a long time.
As China's economy is ushering in new changes, more and more fourth- and fifth-tier small towns with poor economic development will join the ranks of Hegang. For example, in cities such as Shuangyashan and Jixi, which are very close to Hegang, we have already seen that in the future, the population will increasingly concentrate in the center areas of large cities with good economic development. Although Hegang looks a little lonely today, it is only a microcosm and symbol of a country's urban development. No one wants the city they live in to be slowly transformed into Hegang.