Private real estate developers are paying residents of Beijing 's famous Nanluoguxiang hutong top prices for the purchase and destruction of their old houses in an attempt to cash in on the highly popular tourist site.

Chinanews.com.cn cites online postings as saying that payments for homes along one of the capital's famous bar streets were as high as 150,000 yuan (US$22,000) to 300,000 yuan (US$43,900) per square meter. The amounts would set a new high for the purchase of old homes in Beijing and would produce a street of millionaires overnight, the report said.

But one local resident said he was uncertain whether payments could reach as high as 300,000 yuan, because the agreements signed between homeowners and developers were confidential. He believed that developers were paying up to 100,000 yuan a square meter, because he learned that someone had received a total of 10 million yuan for a 90-square-meter apartment. He also said one homeowner reported receiving 90 million yuan (US$13.2 million) in all.

Nanluoguxiang is a traditional hutong, or alley, which attracts great numbers of tourists from home and abroad with its characteristic history, culture and fashion. It also contains several restaurants and bars. Store owners reportedly pay monthly rent of up to 10,000 yuan (US$1,464) for spaces of 20 to 30 square meters each.

(CRIENGLISH.com July 25, 2009)