Demand pushes up rents in Beijing   

毕业季租赁市场需求加大 北京房租再迎上涨压力

北京统计局最新数据显示，继四月份住房租金上涨7.6%以后，5月份北京住房租金同比上涨7.4%，房租呈现持续上涨趋势。当前，高校毕业季即将到来，业内预计，大量租房需求的出现或导致房屋租金加速上涨。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- Intensive demand has helped push up housing rents in big Chinese cities, especially Beijing, where rents continued to rise in May.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics said Thursday that the average rent for a small house in the city jumped 7.4 percent year-on-year in May, following a year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent in April.

Xie, a job-seeker in Beijing, told reporters that he had failed to find a suitable house because of high rents or poor living conditions, such as housing being divided into several parts for group-renting.

"It is difficult to find a place to live in Beijing," he said.

Niu Fengrui, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the hike depends on the ratio of supply and demand in the rental market.

Guo Yi, marketing director of Yahao Real Estate Selling and the Consulting Solution Agency, said demand has surged, especially as a large number of students are seeking jobs in Beijing. Moreover, some buyers have turned to renting houses because of rocketing property prices, he added.

Zhang Dawei, an analyst with Centraline Property, a Beijing-based real estate agency, said the property tax may bring rents down in the future.

Read more:

There's more to life than the gaokao