About half of the 20,000 people polled in a recent survey have to delay their wedding because of the high price of housing, Legal Evening News reported.

While home prices in Beijing have been on the decline, it is still too high for young couples.

A secondhand two-room apartment within the 4th Ring Road of the capital costs about 2 million yuan, which would mean monthly mortgage payments of more than 7,000 yuan ($317,800).

The average personal income in Beijing remained at 4,500 yuan a month in 2011, which is not enough for a couple to afford the mortgage, the paper said, quoting data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.