What's wrong with renting?

Real estate is a national obsession. Wealthy Chinese snap up properties as if they are buying stocks or making savings deposits.

Less well-off families start putting aside money to buy homes for their children, especially boys, before their little bundles of joy even leave the maternity ward. Young graduates and professionals are increasingly stressed about their ability to afford ever rising housing prices.

Everywhere you turn, real estate is the subject of fervent discussion and speculation.