Word: chen
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...Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu...
...Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu...
...many urban middle-class Chinese, dreams of owning property that came into focus in the past decade have faded. Chen, 28, makes about $22,000 a year. By combining that with his wife's $13,000 salary as an office administrator, the couple estimated that they could afford a $260,000 apartment. But after more than a year of searching, and touring some 50 potential homes, they're still renting. In the heated market, sellers kept raising the price thousands of dollars just as Chen and his wife were on the verge of closing a deal, he says. Or worse...
...China heads into 2010, its economic policymakers will have to juggle how to control the property market for consumers like Chen without debilitating it or harming the overall economic recovery. "While the authorities aim to contain property-price increases, they are highly mindful of the importance of stability in the sector, as it bears upon consumption and employment," Jing Ulrich, managing director of China equities for JPMorgan, wrote in a research note. It's a tricky balancing act. But it's a task the other countries still struggling to emerge from the global downturn would envy...
...Home sales last year increased in value 80% over 2008, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That pace has slowed in recent weeks as buyers like Chen are now looking for government intervention. In late December, Premier Wen Jiabao promised action to help keep housing prices in check. "As the property market is recovering rapidly this year, housing prices in some cities are rising too fast, which deserves the great attention of the central government," he told Xinhua, the state-run news service. During Thursday's press conference announcing the 2009 GDP numbers, Ma too acknowledged that "the price...