A new tactic

After months of searching and then decorating, Ding Hao, a 26-year-old dancer from Hubei province, finally moved into his new home in Beijing last month. Technically speaking, the 56-square-meter loft, which cost 10.5 million yuan, is not his home but his office, because he bought a commercial, not residential, property.

Chinese law forbids the use of commercial properties - purchase of which is not constrained by the need for a local hukou and is exempt from the new regulations - as homes. However, the new rules have been criticized for being too vague and not working as planned. As a result, this "gray area" is a source of hope for those who are not qualified to own property in the capital, but still dream of doing so. There are also added costs in terms of a property management fee and shorter duration of property rights - owners of residential properties are granted 70 years, but for commercial buildings, the duration is usually 50, or sometimes even 40 years.

"But nobody really uses these places as offices. All my neighbors are doing the same thing as me," said Ding. His community, between the East Fifth and Sixth Ring Roads, doesn't look like a business district; laundries and massage parlors have opened and the streets are full of people walking their dogs or pushing baby strollers.

"You would never know that I live in a commercial building, unless you saw my property certificate which says 'commercial' instead of 'residential'," said Ding.

However, his dream of owning an apartment and settling down in the city is strong enough for him to pay the higher costs for a commercial property.

"I have a stable job and it's time to settle down. The symbol of settling down is buying your own place."

He has spent 170,000 yuan on decorating "the office", transforming it into a cozy apartment with wooden floors and crimped curtains.

"I know it's not a perfect long-term plan," he admitted. "I am thinking buying a real residence, but the new regulations just seem to make it even harder to do that."