Today I looked at the housing prices—those old, run-down places in the city center are hitting another new low, and it really hurts. I paid 2.8 million for it; it was 4 million at the peak, but now it’s only between 2.3 and 2.5 million. It feels like I’m stuck with it and it’s going bad in my hands.

Why didn’t I sell it back then? Because of my wife’s job, during the peak it just so happened we were living there on the side, as a place to settle for now. It’s kind of a semi–owner-occupier situation. The only comfort is that the rental-to-sale ratio is still decent: 5,000 yuan a month. The tenant is a long-term renter and pretty reliable.