More than half of residents in Beijing urban areas have bought houses and nearly 40 percent leased houses with some 10 percent building houses for themselves, according to the fifth census, sina.com.cn reported today.
The census indicated that the housing reform policy that phased out welfare housing allocation led to a growing number of house buyers in Beijing.
According to the census, up to 87 percent families bought their original public housing with more people opting to buy commercial properties and economy houses.
More than 90 percent Beijing residents paid no more than 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) for their original public housing and 90 percent-plus people spent less than 200,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan buying economy houses and commercial properties respectively.
All the districts of Beijing have sped up constructing houses and house buyers began to care more on the surrounding commercial places. The Chaoyang District and Haiding District, with predominant geographic locations have become house buyers' top priority.
According to the data, more than 40 percent people have bought houses in Chaoyang and Haiding Districts.
( eastday.com August 10, 2002)
