China's booming economy is in part due to its soaring property markets, which economists say make up one-third of that country's gross domestic product. In Shanghai, property values have risen 300 percent in three years, pricing many out of the market. The government is trying to cool the sizzling market, but not everybody's happy with its moves.

In a luxury development outside Shanghai, 10 villas have sold at an average price of $463 per square foot. But the central government has forbidden the release of any more land for luxury villas, instead ordering cities to allocate most of their land for small apartments. It's an attempt to cool runaway property prices.

Public dissatisfaction is rising, as more and more people are priced out of the market, and interest rate increases mean homeowners are struggling to pay their mortgages.

Zou Tao, a businessman and consumer advocate in the southern city of Shenzhen, started an online campaign encouraging people to stop buying apartments for three years in a bid to bring property prices down. "The market's artificially high," he says. "A lot of unscrupulous developers, middlemen and speculators have got together to push prices up. Normal people's resentment and hatred is growing."

Zou says he has collected 200,000 signatures for his campaign. But he has also attracted official attention. Zou was barred from leaving the country and he says his company was forced to close and that his movements are monitored. But he believes the local government's scared of him.

"Local governments sell land at high prices, then depend on the tax revenue from land use for financing their costs, and GDP growth," Zou says. "So my boycott goes against their interests, and could even affect the careers of local officials, so they want to stamp me out."

Certainly there's plenty for China's leaders to worry about. As property markets spiral ever higher, the danger of a bubble increases. And a property crash could explode the mirage of China's rapid economic rise.

Source:佚名