Rent costs in Beijing rise 25 percent from 2017 levels

Rent in Beijing has been rapidly increasing this year, causing tremendous anxiety among the city’s millions of tenants.

The China Securities Journal cited data from renting app Zhuge.com, which shows that rent in the capital city has risen 25.8 percent compared to last year, with July rent alone 4.3 percent higher on a monthly basis.

Rent for a 50-square-meter one-bedroom apartment built in 1980 in Xuanwumen, 2 kilometers from Tiananmen Square, is over 8,000 yuan ($1,164) a month, the journal reported. Earlier this year, the rent was 6,000 yuan per month, the journal said.

The average monthly income in Beijing is 8,467 yuan, it said.

“My lease contract will expire in September, and the realtor just told me my monthly rent will go up by 600 yuan next year,” a Beijing resident surnamed Xiao told the Global Times on Sunday.

Xiao shares a two-bedroom apartment near Beijing’s Central Business District in Chaoyang district. The apartment was built in 1955.

“I don’t know why such an old and poorly-maintained apartment is worth 7,000 yuan a month,” Xiao said, “It’s beyond my budget, and I have to look for another place to stay.”

A real estate agent from Ziroom told the Global Times that rent in Beijing has been increasing since the severe fire accident in Daxing district in November 2017.

The fire, which affected a rented-house community for migrant workers, killed 19 people. Beijing then launched a city-wide eviction campaign of tenants from illegal and unsafe buildings.