A market that's not such a hot property

A recent decline in housing prices is being exacerbated by tightened credit conditions and a surge in the supply of subsidized State housing, as He Na reports.

Chen Xin, who works for an academic institute in Beijing, said he is experiencing the hardest time of his life because the "perfect" house exchange he has spent a long time planning has been ruined by the recent slump in the price of residential property.

Chen planned to sell his house in Lishuiqiao, in Beijing's Chaoyang district, and buy a smaller one in Haidian, closer to his son's school. The new house is 20 square meters smaller than Chen's current home, but costs about 1 million yuan ($160,000) more. Chen planned to sell his house and use the money to pay the lion's share of the cost of his new home while using a bank loan to cover the shortfall