From media sensation, to being declared illegal, to possible publicity stunt: it’s the story of Shenzhen’s ‘pigeon cage’ apartments.
Clocking in at just 6-square-meters, the apartments went on sale in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district. An initial report said all nine of the apartments had been bought up in one morning, causing a media firestorm and fierce online debate about housing prices in Shenzhen.
Later reports said only four had been bought before the government ordered sales contracts terminated because they were illegal.
National regulations state residential apartments must be at least 22 square meters.
Four realty agencies are reportedly being investigated for ‘hyping up’ the apartments before they went on sale.
Other media quoted the director of the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Center, Yan Yuejin, as saying that he suspected sale of such small apartments was a publicity stunt.
“They have captured the pain point of the market,” he said, according to Sixth Tone.
The apartments reportedly cost more than RMB880,000.
[Images via Guangzhou Daily and Sixth Tone]
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