Buying a home in Chinese 买房

mǎifáng

Buy a home in Chinese is 买房 (mǎi fáng).

Also searched for as: buy a house, buying a flat, mortgage, property, real estate.

The biggest purchase most people ever make. 15 essential buying a home words in Mandarin Chinese, with pinyin and English. Open it in the app to hear each word, tick off the ones you know and turn them into flashcards.

For many families in China, 买房 (mǎi fáng), buying a home, is the biggest financial decision of their lives and a constant topic over dinner. These words cover the whole process, from viewing flats with a 中介 (zhōng jiè), estate agent, to saving the 首付 (shǒu fù), deposit, and paying off the 房贷 (fáng dài), mortgage. They also include the rueful 房奴 (fáng nú), 'mortgage slave', which homeowners use about themselves with a sigh and a smile.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
买房	mǎi fáng	to buy a home
房价	fáng jià	house prices
首付	shǒu fù	down payment; deposit
房贷	fáng dài	mortgage
月供	yuè gòng	monthly mortgage payment
公积金	gōng jī jīn	housing provident fund
房奴	fáng nú	mortgage slave
中介	zhōng jiè	estate agent
看房	kàn fáng	to view a property
二手房	èr shǒu fáng	resale home; second-hand property
学区房	xué qū fáng	home in a good school catchment area
户型	hù xíng	floor plan; layout
平米	píng mǐ	square metre
房产证	fáng chǎn zhèng	property deed
装修	zhuāng xiū	to renovate; to do up

Usage tips

Flat sizes are given in square metres, shortened to 平米 (píng mǐ) or just 平 (píng) in speech, and the figure usually refers to the gross floor area, 建筑面积 (jiàn zhù miàn jī), which includes a share of corridors and lifts, so the usable space is smaller.
Deposits are usually expressed in tenths with 成 (chéng): 首付三成 (shǒu fù sān chéng) means a 30 per cent deposit, so listen out for 成 when people talk numbers.
A flat takes the measure word 套 (tào), as in 一套房 (yī tào fáng), and layouts are described by rooms: 两室一厅 (liǎng shì yī tīng) means two bedrooms and one living room.

Common mistakes

Using 房子 (fáng zi) to mean a room: 房子 is the whole house or flat, while a single room is 房间 (fáng jiān).
Calling an estate agent 代理 (dài lǐ), which means an agent in the sense of a representative or distributor; for property say 中介 (zhōng jiè) or 房产中介 (fáng chǎn zhōng jiè).
Saying 付房贷 for 'pay the mortgage' is understood, but the natural phrase is 还房贷 (huán fáng dài), to repay the mortgage.

Mini dialogue

A你们最近在忙什么？Nǐ men zuì jìn zài máng shén me?What have you been up to lately?
B忙着看房呢，我们打算买房了。Máng zhe kàn fáng ne, wǒ men dǎ suàn mǎi fáng le.We've been busy viewing flats. We're planning to buy.
A现在房价这么高，首付够吗？Xiàn zài fáng jià zhè me gāo, shǒu fù gòu ma?With prices this high, have you got enough for the deposit?
B父母帮了一点儿，再用公积金贷款。Fù mǔ bāng le yī diǎnr, zài yòng gōng jī jīn dài kuǎn.Our parents helped a bit, and we'll use the housing fund for the loan.
A那以后每个月都要还房贷了。Nà yǐ hòu měi gè yuè dōu yào huán fáng dài le.So from now on you'll be paying off a mortgage every month.
B是啊，马上就要当房奴了！Shì a, mǎ shàng jiù yào dāng fáng nú le!Yep, I'm about to become a mortgage slave!

Example sentences

我们打算明年买房。We're planning to buy a place next year.
这里的房价太高了。House prices here are far too high.
我们首付付了三成。We put down a 30 per cent deposit.
我每个月都要还房贷。I have to pay the mortgage every month.
我的月供是八千块。My monthly mortgage payment is 8,000 yuan.
我们用公积金贷款。We're using our housing fund for the loan.
买了房以后我就成了房奴。After buying the flat I became a mortgage slave.
中介带我们看了五套房。The agent showed us five flats.
周末我们去看房。We're going to view flats at the weekend.
二手房一般可以马上入住。You can usually move into a resale flat straight away.
学区房特别贵。Flats in good school catchment areas are really expensive.
这个户型我很喜欢。I really like this layout.
这套房一百平米。This flat is 100 square metres.
房产证上写谁的名字？Whose name goes on the deed?
新房装修花了半年。Doing up the new flat took half a year.

Practise speaking

Ready to use these words? The Buying a home speaking island has 8 everyday questions about buying a home to prepare your own answers to.