Skyrocketing housing rents in major Chinese cities concern migrant workers

A steep rise in housing rents in China’s first-tier cities has triggered intense discussions in the online community.

According to data from CITIC Securities, some 13 major cities have seen housing rents increase by over 20 percent in the past year, with Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, topping the list, with a rent rise of 31 percent.

Beijing has the highest housing rent, where a tenant pays an average of 92 yuan ($13.4) per square meter per month, a rise of 22 percent year-on-year.

The current condition of the housing rental market has put a heavy financial burden on most migrant workers whose average monthly salaries are reportedly about 10,000 yuan.

Property market analyst Chen Lei told Thinker, a think-tank branch of xinhuanet.com, that soaring rental costs are partly attributed to the growing demand for housing as new graduates flock into the market, and also a result of cities’ crackdowns on irregularities in the apartment rental market, such as demolishing those with safety hazards and ordering a halt to group renting.

Some experts said competition among real estate agencies to grab larger shares in the housing rental market is also a major factor behind the soaring rentals.

Hu Jinghui, former deputy chief of real estate agency 5i5j, said apartment rental platform operators, such as Ziroom and Danke, have scrambled for rental properties from owners at prices 20 to 40 percent higher than normal market prices, which drove up the rental prices.

In response, several government agencies including Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Work, and Beijing Local Tax Bureau on Friday held talks with Ziroom, Danke, and several other apartment rental platform operators, urging the latter to stop increasing housing rental price and halt scrambling for rental properties, and warning them with severe punishment once being found to be involved in violating relevant regulations and laws.

The operators on Sunday pledged they would not increase housing rental price in the following three months and were ready to put over 120,000 apartments in use.

Chinese citizens in large cities have been struggling with soaring housing price over the past decades despite the authorities’ repeated statements that they would take measures to cool the market and crack down on speculative behavior.

Unable to purchase an official residency, a majority of young people choose to rent houses while working far away from their hometowns.

However, constant rises in housing rental price concerns them, resulting in some of them deciding to quit major cities and go back home.

Wang Xiaochun, a 24-year-old IT engineer who lives near Huilongguan subway station, was asked to pay 400 yuan more per month from May and is thinking about seeking more roommates.

“Over 25 percent of my monthly income goes to my rent, and it may keep on rising while my salary remains unchanged,” Wang said. “I don’t see a long-term future here anymore.”

Hu Yin, 29, who lives on Chaoyang Lu in a 40-square-meter apartment, also saw a rent rise of 700 yuan this year, and now her 3,700 yuan-monthly rent takes up half of her income.

“The rent increase is close to unbearable, so lately, I have been thinking about going back home [Chengdu],” Hu said.