The Chinese government abandoned the danwei’ (“workDunit”) housing allocation system and fully privatized the housing market. Since then, the residential
price has never stopped increasing despite the past financial crisis worldwide. In April 2011, statistics show that the average sales price of new residential apartments in 10 major metropolitan cities of China reached RMB  15,802 per square meter (approximately USD 226 per square foot). In Shanghai, the price is about RMB26,356 per square meter (above USD 376 per square foot), much higher than in many big cities in developed countries. More and more Chinese urban dwellers, especially those who earn low salaries and live in metropolitan areas such as Shanghai are challenged by escalating housing prices. Each year the central government introduced several housing policies in order to solve the nationwide housing affordability problem. Recently, the Chinese  Premier announced that China aims to build 36 million affordable housing units by 2015. Despite severe housing affordability problems in Shanghai, the municipality has been lagging behind many other cities or provinces in terms of affordable housing programs. Last year, the municipal government finally started to experiment with affordable housing programs in selected districts.