"Many clients, who originally planned to buy an apartment in the city proper, have bought one in the suburban Shanshuiwen Garden, due to its good natural ventilation," said one real estate agent.

Located outside of Beijing's southeastern Third Ring Road, Shanshuiwen Garden sold a whopping 41 apartments per day on average during May 1-5, compared with a dozen per month last year.

Location and potential value used to be the big selling points for Beijingers when purchasing housing, with only a few considering the importance of natural ventilation. "The SARS epidemic has caused little impact on Beijing's real estate investment, but has greatly affected buying patterns. Some poorly ventilated and high-density housing estates were left on the shelf," said Professor Lu Youjie, who is with the Construction Management Department of Tsinghua University.

The point was driven home after reports from Hong Kong's Amoy Gardens apartment complex, where, by April 15, a total of 321 SARS cases had been reported. Three professors from the Architecture Department of the Hong Kong Chinese University concluded that one major cause of the SARS outbreak cluster was the narrow gap between Block E and Block F, which restricted the free flow of air and allowed the virus to spread to other floors.

Disease can spread easily in such tower buildings. In Apirl, the outbreak of SARS in Beijing saw a high infection rate in some densely populated tower style residential areas, reminding homebuyers to consider population density, environment and ventilation when looking for their dream home.

An online and telephone survey of 500 Beijingers showed that 82.8 percent would pay more attention to ventilation when shopping for a new apartment, compared with 53.1 percent in a previous survey.

Working in the city while living in the suburbs, with fresh air, sunlight and greenery, is likely to become the main choice of the middle class in China's post-SARS period. This will accelerate the construction of housing in suburban areas, said experts. Currently, among the residential areas being built in Beijing, more than 70 percent are located in the city proper. Li Fulin, from the Beijing Construction Commission, predicted that suburban residential areas would surpass those in the city proper within the next decade.

This suburbanization will affect prices in Beijing's housing market, with those of suburban housing likely to increase. The ratio of the per-square meter price of housing in the suburbs and in the city proper is currently approximately 1:4. Li said that within two to three years, the ratio would likely rise to 1:2 or 1:3.

In the post-SARS period, developers and designers are expected to reconsider large-scale community development. Large communities would be split up to form relatively independent smaller groups to reduce population density and lower the incidence of cross-infection. Large-scale communities may never be constructed in Beijing again.

The Beijing City Construction Co. is readjusting its designs and plans by reducing the number of tower building and households on the same floor and increasing the proportion of low scale buildings, with emphasis on ventilation and airflow.

The outbreak of SARS also made people more concerned about the health standards of properties. A growing number of healthy-friendly features have recently appeared in real estate advertisements.

"All high-grade housing and commercial buildings should have healthy aspects,'"said Kai Yan, Deputy Chief Architect of the China Academy of Architectural Technology. Kai added that a healthy residence does not necessarily mean a high price. As long as the design and construction meet health requirements concerning layout, drainage, environment and material, then low cost housing conforming to health standards can be constructed.

The Ministry of Construction has organized a group of experts to discuss housing health issues and to revise available architectural design standards, with an eye to improving the quality of new buildings and meeting people's housing sanitation and health needs.

(Beijing Review June 12, 2003)