A MAN has initiated a self-building housing project in several cities, helping residents buy their apartments for only one-third of the market price.
So far, more than 2,000 Shenzhen residents have realized their dreams of owning a home.
The man, Zou Tao, is taking applications for three housing projects to be built in Nanshan, Bao an and Futian districts.
Because of restrictions on land and housing in China, we can only build houses with urban villagers who own land. Although there are some problems and risks, it still attracts many homebuyers because of the lower costs, Zou said.
The cost of a six-to-eight-floor residential building is about 1,000 yuan (US$150) per square meter, while the cost for more than 20 floors is about 2,000 yuan per square meter. The land is about 5,000 yuan per square meter, which is at least one-third the cost of land for commercial residential housing.
All the money will be shared by people joining the projects, I don t charge them anything. I am doing this to fight against the ridiculously high housing prices, he said.
But because these buildings will be built on urban farmland, owners would not be entitled to legal property ownership certificates and would not be able to sell the apartments. People interested in the projects will be informed of this beforehand, Zou said.
In spite of the risk, Zou s idea has become quite popular in many other cities.
Whether his plan is successful is not known, but it is still worth trying, a Guangzhou resident, identified as Li, told the newspaper.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
