How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Shenzhen?
Have you made the decision to Teach English in Shenzhen China? Or are you looking to Teach English in Shenzhen, or looking at different cities in China to Teach English? You also probably asked yourself is Shenzhen expensive, or are the apartments in Shenzhen expensive to rent? In this article, we have everything you need to learn about the cost of rent in Shenzhen, life in Shenzhen for foreigners, a look inside apartment prices in Shenzhen, as well as a scope of property price in Shenzhen compared to the average Shenzhen expat salary.
How does the cost of an apartment in Shenzhen compare to renting an apartment in other cities in China?
For a single studio style apartment in China, the rent can range between 1000 RMB per month to 8000 RMB per month, or between $150 US to $1200 US per month respectively.
In Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities, the rent is so cheap that your employer will probably provide you a furnished 1 or even 2 bedroom housing for you to live in all by yourself. But in Tier 1 cities, unless you are working at an International School or International Kindergarten, they will give you either shared accommodation or a housing allowance and you are on your own to rent an apartment. Where does the cost of rent in Shenzhen lie along the range given above? For Shenzhen, depending on whether you are located in the city center, the suburb part of Shenzhen, or the outskirts of Shenzhen, it can vary between 2500 RMB per month to 5000 RMB per month.
Rent in Shenzhen can vary between 2500 RMB to 5000 RMB per month
How does the apartment rent in Shenzhen compare to the average teacher salary in Shenzhen?
If you are located in the city center, you can expect your apartment rent to be around 25 to 35 percent of your monthly salary. If you are located in the suburb area of Shenzhen, you can expect your apartment rent to be anywhere between 20 to 30 percent of your monthly salary. Now do schools in Shenzhen located in the city center pay higher than schools located in the suburbs or outskirt of Shenzhen? Unfortunately, the answer is not really. This is because many foreigners like to live in the city center of Shenzhen, also, schools in the outskirts usually will pay higher salary in order to attract teachers to work at their schools. So if you were looking to save a really good amount of money, you may want to consider taking a job in the rural area of Shenzhen. Often times you can find 2 – 3 bedroom apartments on the outskirts of Shenzhen that cost the same or less than a studio located in the city center. This is largely due to the size of Shenzhen and while you may technically still be in Shenzhen proper it can be quite a distance from the city center.
Does the school provide the housing for teachers in Shenzhen or elsewhere in China?
Before, almost all schools that hired English Teachers in China provided a free apartment for teachers, so the teachers didn’t have to worry about getting housing. However, many teachers told their schools that they prefer to find their own housing so they can decide how big a house to rent, and the location based on their preferences. In order to adapt to the needs of teachers, most schools now provide just a housing allowance and teachers will need to find their own housing upon arrival. Now if you want to make sure you get housing provided so that you don’t have to deal with finding an apartment, be sure to tell your job placement consultant in advance that you strongly prefer to work at a program that provides housing.
How much deposit do I need in order to secure an apartment rent and what are the associated costs involved?
Generally, there are three types of rental properties to choose from in China. First, you have the private single apartments owned by individuals looking to rent their house to tenants. For this type of housing, you will need to put a two months rent as a security deposit, which will be returned to you upon completion of the rental contract. For example, in Shenzhen, if you decide to live in the city center, the rent for a single housing would be around 4,500 RMB per month, so your security deposit would be about 9,000 RMB. In addition to this, you will need to pay 1st months rent as well as realtor agent fee, which is 50% of the rent. Are you a little tight on budget? Well, good news the second type of rental property is a serviced residence. In China, one such company called MoFang Residence has been building a lot of serviced residence properties with several located all over Shenzhen that provides single housing for short term and long term tenants.
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To rent a room from MoFang, you will only have to put one month rent as a security deposit, and you can rent from as short as 1 month to as long as you like to live there. Also, you don’t need to pay a real estate agent fee as if you were able to ask a Chinese friend to help you, they can help you find a place to rent. The third type of rental property is shared housing. If you are coming to Shenzhen, we can arrange you in a group of foreigners who are looking to get shared housing. For shared housing, no real estate agent fee needed, and most likely, the deposit will be low. Also, shared housing is generally the least expensive way to rent a room in Shenzhen.
What if I needed a place to stay temporarily in between a hotel and getting your own apartment?
When you arrive in China, most schools will be provided a few days free hotel upon arrival. In this first few days, you will sign your employment contract, take the medical examination, and use the remaining time to find your rental apartment. Now some foreigners may be a bit picky or need more time to find the right home. Some may want to wait a bit longer before putting down a security deposit for a rental apartment. Whatever your situation is, if you needed a place to stay for a few days to a few weeks, Airbnb is a great way to find temporary housing. Also, Airbnb is much cheaper than a hotel, and the quality is just as great as renting your own apartment.
What happens to the security deposit if I need to terminate the rental contract early?
Of course in the perfect world, we would all wish that this type of situation does not happen to us. However, in the event that you will need to break an apartment rental contract, you do run a risk of forfeiting the security deposit. However, there are a few things you can do to reduce the loss and even get back the entire security deposit. First, tell your landlord your situation as soon as possible. This way, the landlord can prepare to get another tenant to take over your contract. In the event the landlord helps you find another tenant to take over your contract, you will be responsible for paying the landlord half months rent to cover the cost. Second, you may want to hire your own real estate agent to quickly find someone who can take over your rent. Third, let your friends know of your situation and advertise your housing on social media. If you can find another teacher who can take over your lease, then you can save that new tenant the agent fee, and get back your entire security deposit.
Moving to China can be quite daunting, but if you are prepared, it can be the adventure of a lifetime.
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