SHANGHAI AND TIANJIN have raised their down payment requirements for homebuyers in an attempt to cool their overheated property markets. First-time homebuyers in Shanghai now have to pay down payments of at least 35 percent, while the threshold for their Tianjin counterparts has reached 30 percent. Beijing News commented on Wednesday:

The property prices in major Chinese cities, especially in the mega cities, have risen far beyond market and policy expectations in recent years. The real estate prices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen keep breaking records with no signs of slowing down, and they even make it to the top 10 most expensive cities for buying property worldwide.

But the irony is that the average income of residents in the three Chinese cities lags far behind the average income in other top 10 cities, not to mention the poorer air quality and urban environment. That explains why the "government is stepping up efforts to rein in prices".