Recently, I read an article from William Sullivan how-is-london-like-vancouver, and it talked about the issues of high housing prices in London and Vancouver, which reminded me of similar issues in China.

                                                                         The words on the picture means “price of house”

In Sullivan’s blog, he mentioned that foreigners buying properties as their vacation homes is the reason for high housing prices in London and Vancouver. This is expected of Vancouver as it is a popular immigration city and a flood of immigrants have moved here to have a better quality of life. As a result, housing prices in Vancouver have risen significantly in recent years, displacing domestic Canadians from their homes, forcing them to move outside the city. Also, the enrollment rate of schools has decreased because the price of houses near schools is too high, acting as a barrier for school-attending children.

Similar issues have happened in China, such as in Shanghai. Currently, Shanghai has become increasingly crowded due to urbanization. There is a vast number of people choosing to work there and many real estates developing as a result. As a result, the price of houses and apartments increased significantly and has caused locals to complain. The different local governments are trying to solve the problem accordingly by placing a building tax and limiting the number of houses one can buy.

High housing prices is a common problem today, and it has been one of the priorities in many governments’ policy. It is society’s responsibility to make an effort to solve housing problem.

The picture is from:

http://wx.house.sina.com.cn/news/2013-05-27/11563214848.shtml