Techbuzz China By Pandaily

In episode 20 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma look into the alleged causes behind the recent 22 percent year-on-year increase in rent prices in Beijing, a rise which has sparked outrage in citizens. In addition to blaming real estate startups, some headlines have also proclaimed that the influx of venture capital and private equity into the tech sector is at the root of the problem. In the episode, Rui and Ying-Ying take an analytical approach to break down the factors affecting the rental market — or rather, largely the middle range of the rental market — in Beijing. They start by giving an overview of the market, including citing average rental and purchase prices as a percentage of take-home pay — and the numbers aren’t pretty. Unaffordable housing is a destabilizing factor for cities everywhere, but especially in China, where overpopulation is still a nationwide challenge and home ownership is particularly prized. Our co-hosts then focus on the impact of government policies on creatin