"In the past stock investors running short of cash pawned their stocks in the hope of making up losses, but now they do so in pursuit of bigger profits," said an anonymous clerk with Huaxia.

Beijingers are not alone. The number of speculators using pawn shops was 30 percent higher than usual at the beginning of the year in East China's cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing, forcing pawnshops to reduce their loan offers.

For example, an apartment worth one million yuan could be pawned for 750,000 yuan last year in Hangzhou, but now it can only fetch 600,000 yuan.

"Pawnshops attract a lot of stock investors because applying for loans from pawnshops does not involve going through the complicated and time-consuming formalities found in banks," said Guo Jinshan, President of the Beijing Pawn Trade Association (BPTA).

Since the Chinese government took measures - including imposing higher taxes on the transfer of housing ownership - to rein in speculation on the property market last year, more and more investors have turned to the bullish stock market.

The number of accounts in the mainland's two bourses rose 132,119 on January 9 to 789.23 million when the market value of the Chinese stocks hit a record 10.25 trillion yuan.

"Although most of the investors who are pawning their apartments have two or three properties, they are exposing themselves to high risks in the pursuit of high returns," said Lu Xiaoping, an analyst with Founder Securities Co Ltd.

The bullish stock market has given pawnbrokers a wealth of opportunities to rake in higher profits, but many remain wary of the risks to which they themselves are exposed.

"When a stock investor that pawned his only apartment loses and fails to repay the mortgage in the agreed time, the pawnshop also runs into the trouble of trying to repossess his apartment," said Hao Fengqin, BPTA secretary-general.

"In Shanghai, many pawnshops have refused to give loans to people trying to pawn their apartments", she added.

"Stock investors should take a rational approach and be cautious about investing their lifelong savings because it is so hard to predict when stocks will depreciate in the risky market," she said.

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