Property prices still cause for concern

When 26-year-old Yang Huiyan, the daughter of a real estate developer, topped China's Forbes rich list with a fortune worth $16.2 billion last year, high school teacher Li Ling found herself becoming a millionaire as well.

But unlike the heiress, Li's assets were in a 1-million-yuan ($140,000) apartment she and her boyfriend bought with their parents' life savings, the mortgage repayments on which will cost them more than half their monthly wages for many years to come.

Li, also 26, decided to take the plunge and saddle herself with debt, as housing prices in Beijing were soaring throughout the country.