China’s cemetery real estate industry has become more lucrative than its residential property market. The phenomenon has led many young people to preorder burial plots to cope with the soaring prices.
Due to the high demand for burial plots, the price per square meter of some plots in Shanghai is already much higher than residential property in its city center.
According to a report by Chinese media outlet Time Finance on April 5, a Shanghai resident surnamed Liu visited two cemeteries during the Qingming Festival—a traditional festival when Chinese people honor their deceased loved ones by sweeping their tombs. He was surprised that the price of burial plots went up, already higher than the price of housing in Shanghai. One plot in the suburbs was priced at 180,000 yuan (about $26,000) per square meter, while another in the more remote Nanhui District was priced at 130,000 yuan (about $18,000) per square meter, the report said….