Over 80 percent of Shanghai citizens think local apartment prices are disproportionately high compared to their incomes, the latest survey conducted by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau shows.
Apartment prices are the cause of great concern among potential buyers in Shanghai, and 83.2 percent of local citizens think the present prices are much higher than they have expected.
According to the survey, about 11.7 percent of the households in Shanghai plan to buy an apartment within a year. Of these, 59 percent would like to buy a new apartment and 41 percent a second-hand one.
Among those who want to buy apartments, 34.7 percent plan to pay below 200,000 yuan (about 24,090 US dollars), while 56.1 percent hope to pay between 200,000 and 400,000 yuan (48,190 dollars).
Statistics show apartment prices in Shanghai in the second quarter of this year increased 6 percent over the same period last year.
(People's Daily August 27, 2002)
