China focuses on rental market to solve housing issue

The unaffordable housing prices have made it almost impossible for many Chinese residents to have their own houses. [Photo: thinkstockphotos]

In recent years, China’s housing prices, especially in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, have surged to a level that ordinary residents simply can’t afford. 

In a promise to provide affordable housing, the authorities in some of the mega cities have been focusing on the rental housing sector as a middle-ground solution to the housing issue.