Housing troubles are not new to fast-growing Beijing, but there was a great deal of hope that the government's moves in April to cool down the property market would provide some relief.

The international level is much lower. An average apartment in Berlin, for example, only costs residents three times the annual average wage, according to a People's Daily article.

According to the Beijing Bureau of Statistics, 98% of Beijingers said in May that housing prices were high.

The other 2%, apparently, could not be reached at their homes for comment.

Beijing's traffic may now be the worst in the world, but natives have long known the capital's streets aren't as hard to navigate as its housing.

A study recently released by Beijing University of Technology and the Social Science Academic Press put a number on the frustration: 25.

The average Beijing home sells at an extraordinary 25 times the average annual wage.

Chicago has an average annual wage of about $70,000, and homes that sell for a median price of roughly $290,000. That's just over 4 to 1.

The hope is that the cooling's full effects will appear in the months ahead.

June brought the first signs of a reversal for urban housing nationwide, when prices finally began to fall, dipping 0.1%.

The average rental price is now 2,950 yuan ($440), a 2.1% increase month-over-month, according to China National Television.

But for Beijing residents, it's one thing after another. Just as housing prices ease, rental prices jump.