Ironically, his experience would be totally different in China itself, where the tenant regulations are non-existent in practice. I had to deal with a number of

Ironically, his experience would be totally different in China itself, where the tenant regulations are non-existent in practice. I had to deal with a number of landlords in two different cities, and I have to say that his principle ("[...] that people will pay a premium for convenience and stability.") is absolutely not true in China. Landlords will go to great lengths to extract the maximum amount of profit to whoever they can get as renters. It doesn't really matter if the renter is good or bad, because the whole country is going through such a huge transformation that nothing is stable right now. Renters move in and out, new rules are changed or created very often, etc... You can be the best renter (and I think I'm a pretty good renter) and the landlords still are going to try to extract something from you. And I cannot really blame them -- They are businesspeople, and their apartments are investments in a highly volatile environment. And I don't think it's even a cultural thing... Of course culture always play a role, but I think the issue is simply how the market is right now (i. e.: regulations, competition, instability).