According to a Beijing-based business magazine, the average price of housing in Beijing was 8,000 yuan per square meter in 2006, while monthly salaries of Beijing residents remain at an average of 2,000 yuan. The cost of a medium-sized (90-square-meter) apartment was 745,200 yuan, including tax and other fees.

Statistics from real estate intermediary Golden-Keys show that the average price of the 14 newly added buildings in Beijing soared to 13,570 yuan per square meter in February, jumping 15.2 percent compared with prices in the previous month.

China's rapidly rising house prices mean that some homebuyers, particularly young people, have to rely on their parents' financial help to cover the 30 to 35 percent deposit on a home.

For some, using their parents' life savings to buy a home is similar to overdrawing on a bank account. But Jin Yin, a 36-year-old music producer with China Central Television, believes this tactic is risky.

"What if something happens to your parents?" she said. "They don't have money, and you don't have money either. As your mortgage debt piles up the quality of life for both you and your parents deteriorates."

Since it's so difficult to have a house of one's own, many young people are renting apartments and some are forced to find flatmates to share the bills.

Wang Peng, a French editor with the Foreign Languages Teaching & Research Press, shares monthly rental of 2,000 yuan with his flatmate. "The 1,000 yuan is only 25 percent of my monthly income," said Wang. "This way I have extra money for dating and other things."

But Wang, 26, says he doesn't feel at home in his apartment. "I spend 1,000 yuan a month on this place, and it's no more than a hotel where I sleep and shower."

Wang is pessimistic about the property market. He doubts housing prices will drop within his range of 4,000 to 6,000 yuan per square meter in the near future. "I'll give up on Beijing and go back to my home province if the house prices here keep rising like crazy."

Where is the hope

China's population boom and rapid urbanization, coupled with speculation, people buying up properties and forcing up property prices, are major factors behind the lack of access to adequate housing, according to Liu Ming, a sociologist.

China's real estate markets continue to burn hot and housing prices in some major cities are still rising. Prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities rose by 6 percent in February over the same period last year, according to the State Development and Reform Commission.

"Neither do the people want nor shall we allow the housing price to continue to rocket," said Fan Jianping, Director of the Department of Economic Prediction under the State Information Center. He added that the surge in house prices will be curbed and the real estate market will become more rational in 2007.

"The government's macro adjustment over the real estate industry in 2006 will continue to have an effect. If all the macro control measures could be implemented, then there's little possibility for the housing price to rebound," noted Fan, adding generally speaking China's property market is healthy but bubbles do exist in some major cities including Beijing.

The Central Government has also pledged to stabilize house prices by issuing an order to build more affordable small and medium-sized properties, as well as strengthening land appreciation tax collection on developers, in a bid to ease urban housing woes.