China Property Market – Overview (1)

Didn't see any particular positive mention of any region except Chengdu, as mentioned – but again, the sheer size means there are always good deals available, particularly away from the major cities.
REAL careful attention must be practiced, though, as local bylaws can easily override national ones, sometimes to disastrous effect on income and/or costs.

As always, PICK THE RIGHT TEAM, even more so in China where, unlike Japan, one can oh-so-easily get screwed over through outright malice or plain lack of planning.

When I get into Japan, in a few weeks, I'll try to illustrate this difference more sharply, but I think the US already hammered this particular lesson home for the Aus investor – the easier things seem and the more "familiar" in any country, the more one should watch out. It's actually the truly "alien" places at first sight that often turn out to be the more straightforward business environments, and the semi-familiar ones that end up eating would-be enterpreneurs alive, in my opinion, and China's another fine example.

The fact that there are so many hotshot English-speaking ex-pat headed agencies in the big cities doesn't mean squat, sometimes it only means they're very adept at pocketing foreigners' money, that's all. Not saying China is all peril, but it's certainly seems to be a complex, often unstable and unpredictable environment.