(ECNS) -- Skyrocketing residential property prices in Shenzhen are forcing families to leave the southern metropolis in Guangdong Province for smaller cities with a slower pace of life, Guangzhou Daily reported.
In Nanshan District, a woman surnamed Liang sold her apartment of about 60 square meters bought in 2003 and used the cash to purchase a new 200-square-meter home in Zhongshan.
After paying in full for the new apartment, the woman in her 40s still managed to retain more than 2 million yuan ($309,000) in the bank, which generates a monthly interest of nearly 10,000 yuan. Liang said this income is enough for her, her husband and a child.
She added that Zhongshan is about 40 minutes by train to Shenzhen so the change of location would not affect her future career as she looks for other profitable investment opportunities.
Shenzhen is the hottest property market in the country, with prices up nearly 57 percent in February from a year earlier.
Another couple also sold their home in here and moved more than 1,000 kilometers to Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province.
The husband and wife, both natives of Hubei and graduates from top universities, earned more than 600,000 yuan a year after taxes. Despite owning a house, a car at 200,000 yuan and working decent jobs, the couple still decided to leave Shenzhen after having a second child.
They had planned to buy a new apartment in Shenzhen but their preferred choices rose from around 6 to 8 million yuan to 10 to 15 million yuan in the city's Futian District in about two years. The couple also found it costly and competitive to send their children to even an ordinary kindergarten.
Facing high pressures in Shenzhen, they finally decided to sell their property and purchase four houses in Wuhan, which all qualify their children for better schools and lower costs, although their income fell.
The report added that it is difficult to get a true count of how many families have left Shenzhen because of surging home prices. The Statistical Bureau of Guangdong Province said that amid rapid urbanization Shenzhen's population increased by 599,800 people in 2015, the most in the Pearl River Delta.
