CRI's Wang Xiao has more on the rental market in the major cities, including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing.

 

　　Tang Zhisheng, manager of Shenzhen Jia Shun Real Estate, says the apartment rent has increased by 10 percent or more in March this year.

 

　　"Take Futian district for example. An apartment with one bedroom and one living room cost you about 2700 yuan a month last year. But now you have to spend 3500 yuan on it."

 

　　According to local real estate agencies, apartment rents in some districts in Shenzhen have even increased by 20 percent last month.

 

　　Su Wei, who owns a photography shop in Shanghai, has a similar problem. He spent more than 100 thousand yuan to decorate and enlarge his shop earlier this year. But now he has to worry about the rising rent.

 

　　"I started to rent this place in 2008 for 7500 yuan a month. Now I have to pay 9500 yuan a month. I guess 2 years later the rent will be more than 10 thousand a month."

 

　　Su Wei says there is no room to bargain with his landlord.

 

　　"He says if you don't rent this apartment, someone else will. He can find someone to rent this place almost immediately."

 

　　Zhou Zhifeng, general director of Shanghai Jones Lang LaSalle Company, says that landlords generally expect the CPI will increase significantly, which pushes up apartment rents.

 

　　"Because the landlords expect that the CPI will increase sharply in the future, so they raise the apartment rent. But the truth is the rising rent pushes up the CPI."

 

　　But things are different in Beijing. Yu Zhong, manager of a Homelink Real Estate branch office in Chaoyang district, says they haven't seen abrupt rent increase.

 

　　"The year-on-year jump of Beijing apartment rent is about 5 percent, and we don't see sharp increase this year."

 

　　Yu Zhong says the number of apartments available for rent is increasing by 30 percent. Industry insiders analyze that many landlords are reluctant to sell their apartment due to the new real estate regulations, so they turn to the rental market.

 

　　Lin Qian, vice president of Homelink real estate, says the increasing housing resources ensure the stability of the market in Beijing.

 

　　"Based on previous experience, the government's recent strict policy on real estate helps to enlarge the housing resources. That means the more the housing price, the more stable the rental price."

 

　　It seems that, for now, we can expect rents in the capital to stay fairly stable. In the near future, however, the opposite seems to hold true for the rest of the country over the near-term.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Wang Xiao.