It took me 8 years to go from looking down on Suzhou, barely being able to reach it, to looking up to Suzhou.
The author has known Suzhou for more than 8 years. From the beginning of 2011 to now, the author's understanding of Suzhou has been divided into several stages. From first getting to know Suzhou Industrial Park, to getting to know Wuzhong District, then to High-tech Zone, and finally to Wujiang. In eight years, my view of Suzhou has undergone a subversive change. I went from looking down on Suzhou to almost being unable to reach Suzhou, to now looking up to Suzhou. The development speed of Suzhou is so fast that it is disappointing.
The first phase (2011-2012): Go deep into the core of Suzhou---the park with the strongest sense of modernity
I still remember that in early February 2011, just after the Spring Festival, I was hired by the company Sent to a foreign company client near Jinji Lake in Suzhou Park to work on a project. After graduating from college, the cities where the author worked were all at least provincial capitals, such as Changsha, Guangzhou, Chengdu, etc. I had basically never worked or lived in a small city for a long time. This is my bottom line. After all, after graduating from college, I can’t hang out in a small city. So that was the first time I went to work and live in a prefecture-level city for a long time. At that time, the author didn't know anything about Suzhou. I had only heard that "there is heaven above, and there are Suzhou and Hangzhou below." Since the client is in Suzhou Park, the author worked, ate, and lived in the industrial park during the entire project period (15 months). I lived in a five-star hotel near the International Science and Technology Park and walked 15 minutes to the client's factory to commute. I just used my weekend time to take my wife and children to visit Suzhou Gardens, Hanshan Temple, Canal, Tianping Mountain and other scenic spots outside the park.
After completing a project, the author only knows the Suzhou Park relatively well. In the eyes of the author, Suzhou is the park where I live every day. I have walked by Jinji Lake many times, and I have gone to the Gate of the East to watch the musical fountain many times. The author found that Suzhou is a very modern city. The city is very beautiful, with many lakes, many rivers, many ancient towns and many bridges. It is worthy of being the 'Venice of the East'. I have to admit that I have fallen in love with Suzhou, a city in the south of the Yangtze River.
The second phase (2012-2013): getting to know Wuzhong District, whose overall impression was not very good
The project ended at the end of May 2012, and I had to leave Suzhou temporarily. . However, three months later, in early September, the author was honored to come to Suzhou to work on a second project. The client of this project is in Wuzhong District, Suzhou, so he works in Wuzhong District every day, but he still lives in the five-star hotel in the park nostalgically. So the second project in Suzhou gave me the opportunity to live in the park for a long time (12 months) again. However, this project also gave me a more in-depth understanding of Wuzhong District in Suzhou: the predecessor of the park was part of Wuzhong District, and the predecessor of Wuzhong District was Wuxian County surrounding Suzhou City.
If the park is a very modern side of Suzhou, then Wuzhong District does not look so glamorous and beautiful. Wuzhong District, with Laifeng Shopping Center as the regional center, is a place I often go to. Of course, there are also Tongyuan Road, Dongqing Road, Baodai Road, etc. that I pass through every day when commuting to work. After that year's project, the author is relatively familiar with the south section of Wuzhong District. However, the author occasionally passed by some very shabby and dilapidated places in Wuzhong, which made me not have a very good impression of Wuzhong District. I always felt that the urban appearance of Wuzhong District was really incomparable with the park.
In the autumn of 2013, the second project in Suzhou ended as scheduled, and the author had to leave Suzhou again.
The third stage (2015-2016): Suzhou is almost beyond my reach
The author is relatively introverted and a bit of a homebody, not the kind of person who likes to run around, so During the more than 2 years of living in Suzhou, apart from visiting the famous scenic spots in Suzhou, I rarely visited other places. During this period of time, the author had no knowledge of other areas in Suzhou, such as Changshu, Zhangjiagang, Kunshan, Taicang and other county-level cities under its jurisdiction. I had never been there and paid little attention to them. As for Wujiang, at that time, it had just been merged into Suzhou, and it was relatively far away from the urban area of ??Suzhou, so the author paid less attention to Wujiang.
The author's thinking is relatively traditional and conservative. As many people now understand Suzhou, Suzhou is just a prefecture-level city with a very low political status. So at that time, the author's view of Suzhou was that Suzhou was beautiful and a very suitable city for tourism, and that was it. Although some clients from Suzhou advised me to come to Suzhou to buy a house, I didn't even consider it. After all, Suzhou is only a prefecture-level city. The author is also a graduate of the 985 prestigious school. Living in a provincial capital city is the minimum requirement. How can I condescend to buy a house to settle down or invest in a prefecture-level city like Suzhou?
But the cruel reality later made me understand: If someone looks down on Suzhou, Suzhou will make him unable to reach a higher level, make him regret it, or make him pay the price!
In the second half of 2015, Suzhou, which has always been a "breath of fresh air" in the real estate market in the Yangtze River Delta region, took the lead in kicking off the skyrocketing housing prices and became one of the "four little dragons" responsible for this epic surge in real estate prices. one.
The unit price of houses, led by Suzhou Industrial Park, has soared in a short period of time, with an increase of more than 10,000, and in good sectors, it exceeds 20,000, or even 30,000! How scary! In Chengdu, the capital city of the western central city where I have always lived, housing prices are still moving sideways unhurriedly (for five consecutive years). Comparing the two cars, the gap in housing prices between Chengdu and Suzhou is getting wider and wider, which makes the author completely change my views on Suzhou and Chengdu. Although Suzhou is a prefecture-level city, it is definitely not an ordinary prefecture-level city. Its superior geographical location and super-developed manufacturing industry make Suzhou's economic strength (total GDP) exceed that of all provincial capital cities except Guangzhou, and its per capita GDP is Surpassing all major cities (provincial capitals, municipalities, etc.) except Shenzhen, Suzhou's real estate has great investment value! Although Chengdu is a national central city, a provincial capital city, and has a high political status, due to its geographical location in the poor and backward western part of China, it is restricted and dragged down by the low level of economic development. However, the increase in housing prices is far less than that of Suzhou, which is very embarrassing.
I decided to make a difference, so in the summer of 2016, before purchase restrictions were imposed in Suzhou, I saved up enough for the down payment and decisively bought a house in Suzhou, thus squeezing into the real estate development industry in Suzhou. The fast lane can be regarded as a person who owns real estate in the big cities in the Yangtze River Delta. Obviously, the housing prices in Suzhou were already very high at this time, and it was almost out of my reach. So I acted as a taker! I missed the best time to buy a house in Suzhou and bought the property halfway up the mountain, but I don’t care about this. If I am not willing to come to Suzhou, a big city in the Yangtze River Delta region, to buy a house and work as a pick-up man, I will have to be trapped in Chengdu, a poor and backward city in western China, for the rest of my life. That will make me sleep hard for the rest of my life! ! ! However, the author found that at that time, except for the core areas of the Gusu New District of the park and other ruthless areas, housing prices rose rapidly, while the housing prices in Wuzhong Xiangcheng and non-core areas of the New District's Gusu District were relatively moderate. As for Wujiang, just a few years after it was merged into Suzhou, its housing prices are even lower and their rise is even slower. In the eyes of the author, Wujiang is the most remote, most remote and least worth investing in real estate area in Suzhou and can be completely ignored.
The fourth phase (2017): Get to know Wuzhong District, Suzhou again
Just after New Year's Day in 2017, the author came to Suzhou for the third time to work on a project, which lasted for half a year. In the past six months, this is the second time we have done a project with an old client, also in Wuzhong District, so the author has lived in Wuzhong District for another half year.
In the past six months, apart from going to Jinji Lake in the park a few times, the author has mainly lived in Wuzhong District. The south section of Wuzhong District, Baodai Road, Shuixiang Street, Wanda Plaza, Shihu Scenic Area, Lai Feng Shopping Center, and the Suzhou Canal are places where I and my family often go.
In the author’s opinion, although the development and housing price increase of Wuzhong District are not as good as those of Gusu District in the park, the central area of ??Wuzhong District is still relatively prosperous, and the scenery and convenience of living facilities are all very good. Not bad. Wanda Plaza in Wuzhong District is very prosperous, and Shihu Scenic Area is a very good scenic spot in the hinterland of Wuzhong District. The Yinshan Lake section, because it is located in the southeast corner of the park and borders the park, has also become a popular hot spot in Wuzhong District, changing from a rigid demand section to an improvement section.
The fifth phase (2019): Close contact with the High-tech Zone
At the end of 2018, the house I bought in Suzhou was handed over. Just after the Spring Festival this year (2019), the author moved into his home in Suzhou. Fortunately, the author found a new project in Suzhou years ago. This means that this year you can start a project at home, and you don’t have to travel to other cities in the Yangtze River Delta (Nanjing, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wuxi, Hangzhou, etc.) from time to time like in previous years.
The client of this year’s project is a factory in Suzhou High-tech Zone, so through this fourth project in Suzhou, I have the opportunity to learn more about Suzhou’s High-tech Zone.
High-tech zones are administrative districts found in almost every big city. Its purpose is to attract high-quality foreign investment or private enterprises to settle in, focusing on the development of high-tech and new technologies represented by software, information technology, electronic information, artificial intelligence, new energy, etc., to realize the adjustment or transformation of the city's economic structure, and to enhance the city's science and technology Development level and city image. In terms of attracting investment, the park was mainly assisted by the Singapore government in the early days. It mainly introduced some high-end foreign companies, including some of the world's top 500 companies, into the park to invest and set up factories. For various other foreign companies, the High-tech Zone actively provides various preferential conditions to attract them to invest and set up factories. Although the high-tech zone in Suzhou competes with the park in attracting investment, the existence of the high-tech zone is also a useful supplement to the park. After all, the area of ??the park is limited, and the park targets high-end industries. In addition to high-end industries, Suzhou also needs various other sub-high-end industries.
Before this, although the author had done three projects in Suzhou and lived in Suzhou for more than two years, I rarely came to the High-tech Zone. In the eyes of the author, the High-tech Zone is more like a Suzhou native. The area mentioned in his mouth is just a legend. Time flies, and the author has been working in the High-tech Zone for a year. The author found that there are many factories in the high-tech zone and the manufacturing industry is extremely developed. Just like the park, there are many foreign companies of all kinds. The Shishan Road CBD in the High-tech Zone is indeed very prosperous, with many high-rise buildings and top-level office buildings, and commercial complexes clustered together. Its housing prices are also among the best in the High-tech Zone, comparable to Suzhou Industrial Park.
However, compared with other areas in Suzhou, such as Xiangcheng District, Wuzhong District, the high-tech zones except Shishan Road are similar in terms of urban construction, commercial prosperity, and housing prices, and do not have much advantages.
The sixth stage: Wujiang District that cannot be ignored
The author’s attention to Suzhou is mainly concentrated in the main urban area. Wujiang, as a district that was later merged into Suzhou, has never been in the author's eyes. This is related to some of the author's inherent concepts. In the author's eyes, I only focus on large cities, such as first-tier cities, as well as provincial capital cities and non-provincial capital cities in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions. When it comes to each city specifically, the author only pays attention to the central areas such as the old city and the main city, but pays less attention to the outer suburbs of the city and the county-level cities under its jurisdiction. In the author's opinion, the development of every city gives priority to the development of the main urban area, while the development of the suburbs or county-level cities under its jurisdiction will only be ranked second priority. This is also reflected in real estate. No matter which city it is, housing prices in the main urban area of ??the old city are the highest, while housing prices in the outer suburbs and county-level cities under its jurisdiction are definitely much lower. In Suzhou, this is the same pattern: Gusu District is an old city. Although housing prices are not as good as those in more recent industrial parks, the average price in Gusu District is still relatively high compared to the whole city of Suzhou. The park is a very unique area in Suzhou, with the highest housing prices and a completely independent market. The average housing prices in areas such as Wuzhong District and Xiangcheng District of the High-tech Zone are similar. Wujiang District, which was recently merged into Suzhou, has always been a low point in housing prices in Suzhou.
In the first half of 2019, Suzhou’s rapid rise in housing prices is well-known throughout the country. Not to mention the park, prices in all major urban areas and suburbs have increased a lot, and the momentum in Wujiang District is also very strong! In many areas of Wujiang District, such as Yundong, Fenhu, Suzhou Bay and other sectors, the growth rate is even higher than that of Xiangcheng District, Wuzhong District and High-tech Zone. Especially after the integrated planning of the Yangtze River Delta came out, the Fenhu area became the most popular in Wujiang District, with its housing prices firmly standing at the prefix 2, and the housing prices in Suzhou Bay (Wujiang Taihu New City) also stood at the prefix 3. The author has always ignored Wujiang District, but I did not know that it is gaining momentum. In the first half of the year, the author specially drove to Fenhu plate and Suzhou Bay plate to visit and inspect, and found that these popular plates are not in vain. Both of these two areas are close to the lake. The environment is absolutely first-class, the air is absolutely good, and it is very livable. Therefore, the price is reasonable. However, Wujiang District is geographically far away from Suzhou city. Although the living environment is good, there are relatively few good job opportunities. Many people can only live in Wujiang, but they work in the main urban area of ??Suzhou, and they spend a lot of time commuting to and from get off work every day. However, many people, including the author, are optimistic about the future development of Wujiang. More companies will enter the city, bringing more and better employment opportunities.
Written to the end
Real estate is really a fascinating and elusive thing. The rise in housing prices has completely changed the author's view of Suzhou: I have never looked down on the prefecture level. The city of Suzhou has become a standard Suzhou city, from completely ignoring Wujiang District of Suzhou to being optimistic about Suzhou and Suzhou Bay. Although it cannot be said to have completely subverted my outlook on life and values, to a certain extent, it has changed my outlook on life. In the author's opinion, Suzhou should be ranked first among the new first-tier cities released by China Business News, and will become the fifth first-tier city in the future.
Look at the development of the city from a developmental perspective, and look beyond traditional standards and perspectives to see the future of Suzhou. If you are optimistic about Suzhou, Suzhou will make your life more exciting!
Written in Suzhou on November 10, 2019.