Local authorities in China's urban areas give preferential terms to developers of cheap houses targeting residents of mid and low-income residents. The buyers should be mid and low-income families.

Usually the apartments are about 60-80 square meters in floor space.

However, the floor area of the "budget apartments" ranges from 93 square meters to 153 square meters at Zhengzhou's Longxinyuan residential complex, said the provincial Dahe Newspaper.

The complex has two underground parking lots each able to hold 56 cars.

The complex has eight buildings but only one is available for sale to the public, the report said.

All apartments in three buildings and some in a fourth building had been reserved for an unspecified government department of the city.

Another three buildings were sold to a company.

Only those with connections can have a chance to buy houses in the only building available to the public, an official with Longxinyuan's developer told the newspaper.

The city's price for apartments in Longxinyuan was set at 1,580 yuan per square meter, compared to 3,700-4,000 yuan for common houses in the area.