A TEACHER in Shenzhen has earned over 30 million yuan (US$4.41 million) over the past 10 years by speculating in real estate in the city, the China Times reported Saturday.

Gao Hua has been working as a teacher in Shenzhen since he moved to the city in 2000. In 2007, the fast-growing Chinese economy fueled the rise of housing prices in many cities, including Shenzhen. Gao realized that he could make money in a faster and easier way if he sold his apartment in Nanshan District for 1 million yuan in September 2007.

Gao also owned two apartments in Longgang District, where the infrastructure was being improved in 2007 in preparation for the Shenzhen Universiade in 2011.

The Central Government in 2008 introduced a range of policies to boost the real estate market following the global financial crisis. A year later, the property market in the country bounced back and Gao realized that another investment opportunity had arrived.

By the end of 2009, Gao had worked with several other speculators to buy available pre-owned apartments in three residential estates in Nanshan District. They manipulated the prices of these apartments and made the buyers believe that the apartments were highly sought-after by putting only one apartment up for sale every few days.

Gao and these speculators made a fortune as home prices in Shenzhen soared rapidly between 2009 and 2011.

In 2015, Gao bought two apartments in Qianhai for an average price of 51,000 yuan per square meter and sold them at 78,000 yuan per square meter three months later.

The average new-home price in Shenzhen soared from 33,426 yuan to 53,448 yuan per square meter between 2015 and 2016. The property market hadn’t cooled until new property policies were introduced last October.

Currently, Gao has seven apartments and believes that real estate is still the best investment product in China.

“If you don’t buy an apartment in the beginning of the year, your effort will be in vain for the rest of the year. If you don’t buy an apartment in three years, you will regret it for the rest of your life,” he said. (Zhang Yang)