A recent report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has shown that housing costs in Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen have been soaring. A study from the National Development and Reform Commission showed that housing prices in 70 major cities rose by 5.3 percent last month. Beijing and Shenzhen had nearly double-digit increases.

China’s rapid economic development had created a gap between supply and demand, which has contributed greatly to the increase in housing costs, despite measures that have been put into place to regulate and stabilize the property market.

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The report also showed that in Beijing and Shanghai, the demand for property is greater than elsewhere in the country. More than one-third of the houses in Beijing are owned by non-Beijing residents, and about a quarter of the houses in Shanghai are owned by non-residents. Also, about 43% of high-end properties in Beijing were bought by non-residents.

A recent interest rate rise that was intended to stem inflation and excessive growth in credit has affected low-income families the worst, and since that rise, they have been spending an extra 8 percent of their monthly income on housing repayments. Middle-income families, defined as those earning between 60,000 and 500,000 yuan ($7,765-64,716) a year, have been spending an extra 4 percent.