Commuters who work in Beijing and sleep in Yanjiao fear most of all that their houses will be taken away—In winter 2023, the average price of second-hand homes in Yanjiao dropped to 15,000 RMB per square meter, a 40% decrease from the peak in 2017. Meanwhile, the number of listings soared to a record high, and it takes at least half a year to sell a property.

Back then, buying a house for over 30,000 RMB was like grabbing a cabbage—now, even at 15,000 RMB, with a free parking space, no one is interested. Halving the price is not just an adjective; it’s the real listings seen daily on mobile apps: a 89㎡ two-bedroom in Seoul Sweet City, sold for 2.85 million in 2016, just last week the same type was cut to 1.38 million, with owners urgently selling and noting “negotiable.” Real estate agencies have closed one after another; remaining agents are now selling down jackets, with朋友圈 cover photos saying “houses are hard to sell, better to stay warm first.” Even more tragic are “top-up houses”: developers run out of money for construction, directly handing over keys, with project managers tearfully accepting the houses back and taking losses, creating a chain of stampedes.

Don’t expect Line 22 of the subway to save the situation. While opening in 2025 will indeed bring Yanjiao into Beijing’s 40-minute commute zone, Beijing itself is downsizing, with many companies moving from Chaoyang CBD to Tongzhou or even Tianjin. The time saved on subway tickets cannot compensate for the loss of jobs. What’s missing around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area isn’t roads but industries. Without office buildings or high-paying jobs, even with a subway, it’s just making it easier for people working in Beijing to return to the “sleeping city.”
Next door, factory prices have also fallen, but they have Shougang and a film park; Yanjiao, besides housing developments, only has more housing developments—empty beds but no workstations.

Now, with a budget of 1 million RMB, you can find a two-bedroom elevator apartment from 2015 near the subway, but you first need to check for mortgages and then look into auction sales. In 2023, the number of legal auction properties in Yanjiao increased by 35% year-over-year—what does that behind this number?