Beijing, leave or stay?

Thirty-year-old Xue Jinyong attended college, fell in love and got married in Beijing; in fact he and his wife have lived in Beijing for 10 years. Now they are leaving to find a better life.

With a combined monthly income of about 11,000 Yuan (about $1,617), the couple had hopes to purchase a second-hand apartment at the out skirt of the city that is priced at 1.35 million Yuan.

However, even with the savings of the white-collar couple and that of their parents, they still could not afford the minimum down payment of about 400,000 Yuan.

“After days of consulting with relatives and friends, we decided to move to Taiyuan, where the average housing price is only one fourth of Beijing’s 20,000 Yuan per square meter. I can buy a big apartment and we can finally live in our own home,” said Xue.
With housing prices skyrocketing out of control in metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou these days, buying an apartment in becoming a luxury many people cannot afford.
According to Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau, the per capita annual income in 2008 was 44,715 Yuan, while apartments are selling for an average 20,000 Yuan per square meter.

This translates to an apartment of 80 square meters would costs almost 1.6 million Yuan, which would require a household of two wage-earners to repay with all of their salaries for about 17 years, excluding the interests.
Statistics from Goldman Sachs showed over the past six years, the housing price hikes had outpaced income rises by 30 percentage points in Shanghai and 80 percentage points in Beijing.

Easy credit, property speculation and local government’s lucrative land sales all contribute to the high housing prices according to the Institute of Finance and Banking of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Xue’s feelings were mixed.

“I can finally give my family an apartment, but personally I think it is a setback in my lifetime,” he said, lowering his head and staring at the ground.

What would you have done?