A small community of expatriates has emerged in Beijing's growing northern suburbs attracted by low rents and spacious apartments.

Among them is Peter Marvian, a 32-year-old English teacher from Canada, who rents an apartment in Huilongguan.

Marvian, who lived in Shangdi, Haidian district, from 2001 to 2004, found that rents were unaffordable when he returned to Beijing after two years in Canada.

"You tell Chinese people you live in Huilongguan and they give you that stare, because, a few years ago, it was considered undeveloped," said Marvian.

In Huilongguan, he was able to rent a three-bedroom, 130-square-meter apartment near the light rail station for his family of three. The ground-floor apartment has a private garden, which he uses for barbecues.

Marvian said he often meets European expats in the area, especially Germans and Norwegians.

Areas like Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan on Beijing's far north side were mostly rural a decade ago. Since the construction of the fifth and sixth ring roads and light rail lines 5 and 13, they have grown into major commuter suburbs that offer an affordable alternative to apartments in the city center.

Standing at the Huilongguan station during the evening rush hour, it's easy to find expats returning home. Three Americans said they moved to the area to find cheaper apartments in modern buildings.

The manager of the Huilongguan branch of the housing agency Woaiwojia, surnamed Hu, said he sees about five foreign customers every week during the summer, and that more than half are foreign students studying in Wudaokou where some universities are situated.

"The price for an apartment with two bedrooms is only half that in Wudaokou," he said.

Hu said the average rent for an 80- to 90-square-meter two-bedroom apartment is 3,000 yuan per month in Huilongguan.

Rents in the Huilongguan area have escalated rapidly in the past two years, especially after the introduction of the new housing policy in March that blocks people from buying more than one home in Beijing. The policy is part of a tough set of restrictions designed to curb speculation and soaring property prices.

The monthly rent for a two-bedroom house in the district jumped to 2,000 yuan in March this year from 1,600 yuan in 2008, said Yang Fan, manager of the Xinzun real estate agency in Huilongguan.

Li Shuying, a worker from the Longyue residential committee, one of 40 such committees in Huilongguan, said six foreign families moved into the area this year. Li said most are professionals aged between 30 and 40.

Phillip Robinson, 43, from England, moved to Beijing in 2003 after marrying a Chinese woman in England. She found an apartment in one of the first buildings to go up in Tiantongyuan that was built in 2001.

"In order to get a sizable apartment at a reasonable price, Tiantongyuan looked good," he said.

"When we first moved here, it was quite a rural area in many respects," Robinson said. "There was a lot of construction going on, so we had to put up with a lot of dust."

Today, Robinson calls Tiantongyuan a thoroughly modern area.

Within a few minutes' walk from his house, he said he can get to a major shopping mall with a Carrefour supermarket, a 10-screen cinema and an ice-skating rink, as well as several large marketplaces and parks.

Robinson said that he knows five American families close to his house. "We go out for walks together. We draw quite a crowd occasionally, with all the little ones running around."

(China Daily August 11, 2010)