Apartment-hunt proves a learning experience in summer

Owing to a paucity of high-quality education options in China, parents with young children tend to become anxious in May. That's when the fate of school and junior high school admission applications in major Chinese cities is decided.

The struggle for a school seat can get fierce. Many parents are willing to pay big money to buy a home in the neighborhood of their child's school, particularly if it happens to be a reputable institution. Many parents I know started their house-hunts both overseas and in China very early.

Qin Hao, a father of two boys, spent more than 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) to buy a 200-square-meter duplex apartment in Pudong New Area of Shanghai in 2014, which allows his kids to go to a well-known public primary school in the district.