Real estate continues its climb(3)

Divorce

China's divorce rate has risen sharply in recent years, ringing alarm bells across a nation that attaches great importance to family harmony.

Data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that 2.87 million couples divorced in 2011, a rise of 7.3 percent from 2010.

The new housing policies have sparked concerns, because many couples have tried to evade them by getting divorced but continuing to live together, and buying property as single people rather than as a couple.

Chu Zhiwei, 40, a landscape designer at a real estate company in Beijing, said she'd read reports about "fake divorces" many times. Usually, she would raise her an eyebrow and laugh at these "pragmatic" people, and she certainly didn't imagine that one day she would almost join the fake divorce army.

Chu and her husband own two apartments in the capital, one of them in the Guomao Central Business District, which is near her office.

However, for the sake of their son's education, they planned to buy another home in the Taiyanggong area, close to a middle school noted for its high enrollment rate to elite universities.

Zhang and husband Wang Gang have stable jobs and some savings, but they still can't afford to pay cash for the 70,000 yuan-per-square-meter apartment they plan to buy.

China's banks have already ceased to provide mortgage facilities for people looking to buy a third home, so Chu had no alternative but to work out the divorce plan. Her husband was against the idea initially, but faced with his wife's insistence, he consented to the plan.

The new house price control policies were implemented just as the couple discussed the content of their divorce agreement. The measures proved a killer blow.

"We chose to wait in the hope the new policies might cool the market and lead to lower prices. But who knew the authorities would introduce a new rule banning single adults with a permanent Beijing residence registration (known as hukou) from buying a second home?" said Chu.

"The two houses are registered to both of us. Now even if we divorce, we still won't qualify to buy. We should have done it earlier," she said, regretfully.

Chu was very sad, but Wang happily tore up the divorce papers. He admitted that suddenly he felt very relaxed.

"I think the middle school close to our home is good enough. It's really not necessary to buy an old house at a scary price just to get our son into a certain school. He didn't know about the divorce plan and we are going to keep it a secret from him," he said.