Staff of Reuters 3 minutes Read this article (Corrects typo in “accommodation” in headline) On an overpass in front of a residential building in Beijing, China, on August 11, 2020, people wearing face masks are seen. The photo was taken on August 11, 2020. Tingshu Wang/File Photo/REUTERS BEIJING, China (Reuters) – According to a private survey, China’s home rental prices rose at their quickest rate in at least 2-1/2 years as record numbers of college graduates flocked to big cities in search of work as the economy recovered from the coronavirus pandemic. According to statistics released on Thursday by Zhuge House Hunter, one of China’s leading independent real estate research firms, average prices in 40 cities grew 2.1 percent in June compared to 0.78 percent in May. Since Zhuge began recording data in January 2019, this was the largest monthly rise. Top-tier cities saw the most rent increases, with Shenzhen, China’s southern tech powerhouse, up 2.56 percent from May’s 1.3 percent increase. According to Zhuge House Hunter, such places as Beijing and Shanghai are the top destinations for young job searchers. Rents increased 1.51% in June compared to the same month the previous year, the first increase since April 2020. Demand has been fueled by an increase in the number of college graduates, and China has pledged to expand rental markets to make housing more affordable in big cities, where home prices and rentals have risen dramatically in recent years. More than 9 million college students are expected to graduate this year, according to the education ministry, breaking the previous high of 8.73 million established last year. Graduates are expected to hit 10 million by 2022, according to the ministry. This year, major cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen began taking steps to increase the availability of rental apartments. Kaylee Jian, a 22-year-old postgraduate student from Chengdu in southwestern China, arrived in Beijing in June to intern at a firm while looking for a job before graduating in December. “My rent is 150 percent of my intern wage,” she explained, “so I still have to spend my family’s money.” Jian rents an apartment in Beijing’s northwestern outskirts with one other person for 3,000 yuan ($463) a month. “My parents told me that in Chengdu, an entire well-renovated property could be rented for 2,000 yuan per month. I’ve finally realized how pricey cities like our capital are to live in.” ($1 = 6.4838 Chinese yuan renminbi renminbi renminbi renminbi renminbi renminbi Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo contributed reporting; Beijing Newsroom contributed additional reporting; and Simon Cameron-Moore edited the piece./n
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