Middle-income, little hope
Updated: 2007-08-17 07:03
With prices continuing to soar, even middle-income earners are finding it difficult to purchase a property, says an article in the Procuratorial Daily. The following is an excerpt:
The State Council recently passed a document in principle on how to solve the housing problems faced by low-income families in urban areas.
The document has many good points, stating clearly that decent houses are a necessity for people and that the government is duty-bound to help low-income families solve their housing problems, which shows its determination to address the situation.
According to the document, subsidized housing is available only to low-income families. But what shall we, the middle-income earners, do? We can neither afford to buy a house on our own, nor are we part of the subsidy scheme.
Our parents made great efforts so we could go to college and become white-collar workers in the city. We thought we would have a good life, but the dream has been crushed by soaring house prices.
People of our type get a monthly salary of about 3,000-4,000 yuan ($395-$525) and on the surface would appear to have better lives than migrant workers and the unemployed. But, this is not so. If we want to buy a house in the city we have to wait 20 years till we can afford one.
Some of us have borrowed our parents' life savings to buy a house, but then we become mortgage slaves for 10 years or more. This has a negative impact on our lives and also limits our chances to train further.
In a recent survey, 59.8 percent of respondents said middle-income earners were the worst affected by the high cost of housing.
And the truth is, with prices as high as they are, we are all effectively low-income earners.