Co-operative Housing

In 1998, the Chinese government abolished the welfare-oriented distribution of public housing. So people in the cities began purchasing commercial residential property. The average cost of commercial property nationally was under 2,000 yuan a square metre at the time.

But housing prices have soared in recent years across China. The average housing price in Beijing has risen from 7,000 yuan per square metre in 2005 to the current 13,000 yuan. It was against this background that a co-operative appeared.