Beijing Impact

“Even if I don’t eat for the next 50 years, I still won’t be able to afford a flat in Shenzhen.” As we were stuck in traffic last Sunday in his bustling hometown, a cab driver has just identified why the Chinese property market is the world’s biggest bubble at the moment. He makes a maximum of 4,000 yuan a month, but an apartment for his wife and two children will cost about 250 times that amount. The chubby dad has given up dreams of owning his own home in this southern China metropolis that borders Hong Kong.

Prices for apartments in China are seriously out of whack. They were rising this year at the rate of 20% a month in some regions. Overall, residential real estate prices soared 68% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the corresponding period last year. In the second quarter, prices were up 12.2% from the first quarter, according to Nasdaq-listed China Housing & Land Development Inc. China is the world’s fastest appreciating property market.

A property bubble continues to pose the biggest risk for China's economy in the second half of the year and there is still room for correction in housing market, US financial services company Standard & Poor's said on Thursday.

"From the domestic standpoint, the biggest risk in China's economy is the property bubble," said David Wyss, global chief economist of S&P at a press briefing.

Even as the country's housing prices saw the first monthly fall in June this year from February last year, Wyss said homes in China are still pricy and there is room for correction.

Property prices in China remain at a historically high level despite Beijing's recent property tightening measures including requiring higher down payments and mortgage rates to curb rapid housing price rises.

The country will continue its tightening policies for the property sector, even as housing prices in June saw the first monthly fall since February last year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Monday.

In a statement on its website, the ministry said it will strictly apply different mortgage policies and curb speculative purchases, as well as increase the supply of affordable homes and low-rent housing.

Property prices in 70 major cities nationwide edged down 0.1 percent month-on-month in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. The year-on-year increase in prices slowed to 11.4 percent last month, compared with 12.4 percent in May and 12.8 percent in April.

The figures indicate that government measures to cool down the sizzling property sector have kicked in, analysts said.

"Generally speaking, this round of tightening measures has met targets, as evidenced by falling property sales, stabilized prices and people's expectations of price trends," said Qin Hong, the ministry's deputy research head.

Real estate is a hot topic in China nowadays - murder, cheat, betray, greedy, you can find this industry is the most profitable and bloody industry in China. Every news about this industry continues testing the endurance, patience, and faith of Chinese people.

Now on the Beijing Real Estate Exhibition, about 30 human right activists convert it into a Human Right Show.