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Why you can't own an affordable house
By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-04-28 11:07
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If you are surprised to see Audis, BMWs and Land Rovers parked in an economically affordable housing community and begin to wonder how these "poor" people are able to afford these expensive vehicles, you really need to change your mindset.
About 1.5 km outside Beijing's East 4th Ring Road lies the city's famous economically affordable housing community – Baiziwan, which was built by the government to accommodate those who can't afford a commercial apartment, at a relatively low price.
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A resident, surnamed Zhang, said there are four apartments in her floor but she has not seen anyone going into two of the apartments in the last four years.
Most of the residents in the community are civil servants while some are white-collar workers, Zhang said.
When the apartments went for sale in 2004, several cars carrying policemen came here to view the apartments and people said the policemen had intended to buy the apartments in groups, a worker of the community said.
Zhang said when her family was applying for an apartment in the community the government required that her family's annual income to be less than 60,000 yuan.
"The total income of mine and my husband's was definitely above the required level, but we faked the figure," Zhang said, adding there were no strict investigations and the family got the apartment soon after.
Zhang said she heard some people who own apartments somewhere else could still get one here, if no one reported them to the government.
