Beijing's house price has reached a 7-year high. The Beijing Statistics Bureau says that last year's housing prices rose 3.7 percent, while rentals likewise went up by over 3 percent from 2003.

The Bureau attributed this to four main reasons: first, because of rising land value; second, higher funding requirements lowered the number of players in the real estate market; third, rapid urbanization as the 2008 Games approach; and fourth, outside investors have been flooding into the Beijing market.

(CCTV.com January 17, 2005)