President Xi Jinping’s promises to reduce wealth disparities in order to achieve so-called “common prosperity” have placed the plight of low-income households and individuals at the forefront of policy-making.

Demand for rental housing has been concentrated mainly in China’s largest cities, which offer higher-paying jobs and the most employment opportunities, especially for recent university graduates.

Rental housing is also popular among millennials unable to buy homes due to the high barriers to home ownership resulting from speculator-induced real estate price hikes and restrictions imposed by authorities to curb such speculative buying.

“New city dwellers and young people have worked for a relatively short period of time and have little income, so their ability to buy houses and pay rent is low,” Deputy Housing Minister Ni Hong said on Tuesday.

“In big cities, 70% of new residents and young people rent houses, but more affordable houses are further away and properties in more desirable locations are more expensive, which poses practical difficulties,” Ni said. at a press conference that followed the guidelines on the cap by the housing ministry.

Home rental prices fell 0.35% in August from the previous month after a seasonal peak in early summer, according to data released Wednesday by Zhuge House Hunter, one of the world’s largest research companies. independent real estate agency in China, with level 1 cities such as Beijing at the top of the ranking. publication date.

The decline suggests that the pool of rental housing has widened further. Beijing and Shenzhen have started implementing measures this year to boost the supply of rental housing, responding to the government’s call to provide more affordable housing.

In recent months, major cities have also released draft housing rental rules aimed at better protecting tenants’ rights, including banning landlords from requiring deposits equivalent to more than a month’s rent.

Authorities will also crack down on abusive practices by real estate companies and online real estate platforms such as overcharging tenants.

The rules are part of a sweeping cleanup of the housing market over the next three years to eliminate what the government describes as irregularities that have fueled speculation and pushed up house prices.