Insane Property Prices
The next option then is to rent the apartment. Even then, the rent is so high there that fresh graduates are spending about 40% of their salaries on rent. So if you earn ₹100,000 per month, you’re paying ₹40,000 only on rent.
And the consequence of this crisis is that people are avoiding having children. That’s why the birth rate in China is falling rapidly. China removed its one-child policy first. And introduced the two-child policy. And now the two-child policy has also been repealed. And a three-child policy has been introduced. The government wants people to have more children.
So that the population doesn’t dwindle. The reason for this is that the houses have become so expensive, people are wondering why they should have children when they can’t afford to raise them well. The rich people are buying more and more property to invest in. That’s driving up the prices. And the inequality is increasing significantly.
Three Child Policy
It is something that is seen in not only China but also the USA and India. For the middle class and poor people, buying homes have become unaffordable. And the rich people are buying 2 or 3 or 4 or 4 houses as investments. To counter this inequality, the Chinese government has started a Common Prosperity Drive.
In 2017, Xi Jinping had famously said, that homes were for people to live in. Not for speculation. Under this, the government has proposed a new property tax in the next 5 years, that if people are buying homes to live in, it wouldn’t be taxed. But if someone buys subsequent houses as investments, then high property taxes would be levied on them.
