For most ordinary Chinese people, house is their most important real property. It can be said that housing is not only essential to Chinese people's material wellbeing, it also changes their way of thinking as well. Nowadays, living in a big house at a good location has become many young women's dream in Shanghai. In order to make this dream of his girl friend's materialize, Hu Fei, a young man who came to work in Shanghai two years ago, spent all of his savings to buy a house at the edge of the inner ring part area of the city. In Shanghai, there is the common saying that English-speaking people live in the inner ring part of the city, Mandarin-speaking people live in between the inner and outer ring part, and Shanghai local residents live in the outer ring part. Hu's new house is located at the edge of the inner ring part, very close to the downtown area. Does this common saying reflect the true picture of people's living status in Shanghai? Regional manager from the Midland Holdings (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., Shanghai's Xuhui and Jing'an District Li Zhixian said that in Shanghai, it was true that most people that could afford to buy two or more houses in downtown area were foreigners or people from Hong Kong, Taiwan or Macao. For investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, the high property management fee here keeps out a number of potential buyers. However, compared with Europe and the North American countries, it is still very cheap. Most people who rent or buy houses in this area are people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and foreigners, she said. Local residents seldom live here. For mainland investors, they would like to buy houses in Putuo district, which is far from the downtown area. In Putuo, the average housing price is around 11,000-12,000 yuan per square meter, while in Jing'an and Xuhui, the housing price is usually beyond 20,000 per square meter. So for local Shanghainese, there is need for them to buy an apartment here just for living. Foreigners like to rent a house here, and the cheapest rental price would be 1,000 US dollars "for a single room," she stressed. Why do English-speaking people like to gather in downtown area? People who come to live in another city tend to live close to those who are from their home country, and Shanghai is no exception, Li explained. In Shanghai, many people from Taiwan and Hong Kong live in LaDoll International City. Singaporeans like to live in the Maple Park because the developer has been to Singapore to promote his product. In the Gubei New District, many people are from Taiwan and Hong Kong and most restaurants and shops are operated by Taiwanese. For a young man who wants to buy a house to live in Xuhui or Jing'an district, who will become his potential neighbors? There are many kinds, Li said. Some might be employees working in joint venture companies, while others are investors. And the investors vary also. Some might be the wives of rich people, and some might be foreign investment institutions. Some investors are rich enough to buy a large number of buildings in a large area and some might be small investors who only buy several apartments in a building.