Bigger is not always better when it comes to owning an apartment in China's cities. Apartments over 90 square meters will be subject to higher maintenance fees next year as the Chinese government continues its drive to increase the supply of affordable apartments for low-income families.

"Chinese real estate developers are building too many large apartments, making it difficult for low-income families to afford a home," vice construction minister Liu Zhifeng said. "Higher fees will be collected on the maintenance of large apartments," Liu said.

Liu cited the example of heating fees, with more being charged for heating one square meter of a large apartment than that of a small or medium-sized home..

China has been encouraging the construction of small and medium-sized apartments since 2004, when the rocketing housing prices started to spiral out of control.

But so far the policies have been insufficient. An investigation by the Ministry of Construction in April showed that the average size of new apartments in 40 major Chinese cities was 113 square meters. New apartments for sale in Beijing were 143.9 square meters on average.

Source:佚名