High prices have put the dream of home ownership out of reach for middle class Chinese like Yueming, a 27-year-old administrative officer at Beijing Transportation Commission. The holder of a Beijing University master's degree in political science, Yueming (who asked that her surname not be used) said high prices and a yearly salary of $11,290 prevent her from buying an apartment in Beijing, and force her to keep living with her parents in their apartment.

The minimum down payment on a Beijing one-bedroom apartment, she said, would be about $48,400. On top of that, she would spend the next 15 to 20 years paying off a property loan at the rate of $483 per month. Although her company would match $190 of the amount, she said the remaining $293 would be out of her budget. "Without my parents' support, I cannot afford an apartment," she said.

Price woes also have shattered the home ownership ambitions of Xin (who also asked that her surname not be used), a 31-year-old office manager at a Beijing property company who lives with her husband in a one-bedroom apartment in the city. Even when the couple, who have a 1-year-old child, combine their respective paychecks of $ 6,774 and $20,960, she said they still can't move up the property ownership ladder. "It's so hard to afford an apartment in Beijing," she said.