To have and to hold, at least until real estate do us part

DATA FROM THE BEIJING CIVIL AFFAIRS BUREAU show the number of divorces in the city reached 97,600 in 2016, 73 percent higher than the number in 2014. At the same time, the number of couples getting remarried reached 22,607, 131 percent higher than in 2014. Ifeng.com comments:

This situation has much to do with the housing market. There is no exact data, but quite a lot of couples still live together after getting a divorce. The only difference is that after divorcing they are no longer couples registered by the law.

This phenomenon can be attributed to market policies. For instance, there are many reported cases of people divorcing in order to benefit from lower interest rates for new mortgage loans. And being two individuals rather than a couple means they can buy two properties rather than one.