Soaring house prices weigh Xiameners down
Buying a house is increasingly difficult for residents in Xiamen, Fujian province.
A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit attested to the fact by ranking the famous coastal city fourth among 40 big cities in China in terms of financial difficulty of house buying.
The ranking is based on the ratio of the house price per 100 sq meters to a household's average annual income in a city.
The ratio for Xiamen in this category is about 18, nearly double the national average of 9.
Sanya in Hainan province tops the ranking with a 22 ratio, followed by Shenzhen, Beijing and Xiamen.
The monthly income for an employee in urban districts of Xiamen is around 5,000 yuan, while the average house price in November in the city is 23,238 yuan per sq meter, according to official figures.
"It means that a square meter of a house almost equalizes five months' salary for a worker. Obviously that is a huge amount," said an insider.
Why Xiamen
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Xiamen is one of the most economically competitive cities in China and was one of the first Special Economic Zones on the Chinese mainland. As a vice-provincial city independently listed on the State development plan, it has provincial-level authority in economic administration and local legislative power. In 2010, the Xiamen SEZ was expanded to cover the entire municipality. Today, Xiamen is a modern and international port city.