Shanghai real estate market has experienced a robust growth since 1990s except a few downturns including the 1999 and 2005 dips. Shanghai is generally considered to be a better performer in keeping its pricing during downtime, but Shanghai property sales had also experienced a significant decline during the second half of 2008. Shanghai, however, begins to show signs of improvement and seems to lead this sector to stabilization. Although with declining prices from the peak, it has shown an impressive rebound in new and exiting home sales. The government’s 4 trillion yuan, or $585 billion, stimulus plan will help mobilize private-sector investment in sectors such as real estate, although it relies mostly on government-led infrastructure investment. Given the high housing inventory level in most cities, a rebound in trading volume by no means means an instant price catch up. Time will be needed for adjustment for the real estate industry. Investors and home buyers are never too far away. After a period of waiting and observing, some start to see opportunities and dive in this market. Real estate is key to revival of the world’s third largest economy. Shanghai, China’s largest city and the eighth largest city in the world with several thousands of skyscrapers and its distinguished architecture, is in particular, the source of consumer confidence. A decline in Shanghai represents major instability in the national and global markets, and tends to create negative ripple effects.

Regardless of the current economic slowdown, the Shanghai banking regulator reinforced the second home requirement rule, reiterating that buyers must put at least a 40% down payment for purchasing a second home. This shows government’s disciplined approach in stimulating the real estate market. In general, the government makes lands available for sale primarily through auctions. The companies that purchase the lands will be responsible for building properties and selling the properties to the public. The residents will hold seventy year long property ownership.

Under the current policies, foreigners are entitled to one property if they have worked and lived in Shanghai for at least a year. Besides the residency requirement, they must purchase property only for their own use and can not lease it to others. Shanghai property transaction centers can make up own rules on trading on the basis of these policies, according to Shanghai Municipal Housing, Land and Resource Administration Bureau, and rules and implementation time could vary by district. Restrictions that were imposed on foreign investors from investing in the first tier cities like Shanghai have not been released, but real estate opportunities in the second and third tier cities or Shanghai nearby cities such as Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, are either open, or not as restricted. One thing to note is that overseas institutions and individuals that have set up a company in China may purchase property for purposes other than their own use. Regardless of economic and market conditions, Shanghai, with its unique historical background, rich cultures and vibrant growth, continues to attract people from all over the country and all over the world.

A stock market is basically both the physical location where stocks are traded as well as the stocks themselves. The combined activity of stocks leads to the ups and downs of the market as a whole. Stock exchange is something entirely different, and refers to a particular company and its stocks.

1. The Stock Exhange

Worldwide, it is possible to buy and sell stocks. The only restriction is the opening hours of each exchange. Both the NYSE and Nasdaq for
example operate from 9 – 30 a.m. to 4 – 00 p.m. Eastern Time from Monday to Friday. Other exchanges have similar opening hours based on their local time. The most usual hours are between 9 – 30 AM and 10 – 30 PM.

2. Major Exchange Locations

Japan – Tokyo Stock Exchange
India – Bombay Stock Exchange
Europe – London Stock Exchange
SWX – Swiss Exchange
China – Shanghai Stock Exchange
United States – NYSE, Nasdaq, and Amex

3. Good Stocks Equals Good Economic Health

When the economy is doing well the market is strong. A strong market is sometimes also called a bull market. Bull markets occur during times of high economic production, low unemployment and low inflation. Bear markets, on the other hand, follow downtrends in the economy – inflation and unemployment are rising and stock prices fall.

4. Change Is Good

The stock market is largely controlled by supply and demand. A rise in stock price might cause investors to jump on the bandwagon and thus the price will rise even higher. A falling price might have the same effect, causing investors to jump ship and try and sell all their shares as quickly as possible.

5. FOREX

As the largest in the world, the FOREX market buy one currency against another and individual investors profit from very small changes in value. Most FOREX trades exist only for 24 hours and so traders keep a very close watch on the market to make a profit.

6. The Options Market

The Options Market is similar to the Futures Market in that an option is a contract that gives you the right (but not the obligation) to trade a stock at a certain price before a specified date. This means that if you want to sell but want to hold out a bit longer for a better buyer, you can.

7. Futures

Significantly different from the FOREX market, a Futures Market is where contracts to buy and sell goods at specified prices are traded.
Because market conditions make the actual futures contract fluctuate considerably in value, most investors in the futures market are not
interested in the actual goods – only in the profit that can be realized in trading the contracts.