Society

Most Guangzhou women holding out for a house

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-04-27 15:19

A recent survey showed that owning a house is the most important thing in finding a partner in Guangzhou: 67 percent of the city's single women said they would only marry a man who has the capability of buying a house or already has one, the Information Times reported Tuesday.

The survey, conducted by a matchmaking agency in Guangzhou among 15,000 respondents who were not married, found 54 percent of Guangzhou's single people would demand a house for marriage.

Women have fallen biggest victim to the current soaring housing prices, as they are more concerned about having a house to form a family. But for the male respondents, more than 90 percent said they wouldn't care if their potential life partner has a house or not, and only 50 percent said they had a house, according to the survey.

Hu Zhanhong, a senior adviser of the matchmaking agency, said housing is indeed affecting Guangzhou residents' marriage plans, but people also have to reshape their thinking about finding a partner. Twenty years ago, women could accept living in the dormitories of their partners' places of work as well as with the men's parents.

The government should form favorable policies for single people to buy a house, but it is also very important for single people to reshape their thinking about having a house before marriage, Hu said, adding that if a woman takes it for granted that buying a house is the obligation of the man, then she may miss out on a lot of good chances.