Contrary to popular stereotypes about the Shanghainese, Helen Chang of Savills has not just moved to Beijing, but embraced it. Her company’s Beijing headquarters overlook Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) and Chang is the first to admit that this place has really grown on her during the past two years. Agenda sat down with Chang to better understand Savills’ residential operations in Beijing, the limitations of being a foreign-owned real estate company, and what the best places to invest are.

Beijing might be losing its big-city appeal as rental prices increase, food costs spiral due to inflation, and unhappiness apparently festers. But things might start looking up.

It seems ever more clear that the CBD was planned by a complete sociopath. All those apartment complexes and office buildings, but hardly any sign of life after 8pm. No taxis. So much commercial space, so much of it seemingly willfully hidden away from view. None of this makes it easy to run a bar in the CBD. Indeed, few have succeeded.

Owned by a Finnish businessman, My Life is the latest bar to take up the challenge. On a quiet night, the heavily white space looks rather forlorn and sterile. However, picture the bar even half full, and you can see the design’s “woodland” touches – streams of running water and leaves draped overhead – coming alive.

Tai Dian’s second branch again targets CBD-dwellers. The spa chain’s specialty is the Thai massage (RMB 150 for 60 min), an intense Pilates class for the semi-lazy.

Sinocism (a.k.a. Niubi on Twitter) has a post on his blog that sums up the potential ramifications of Beijing's new car and real estate regulations restricting the ability of the capital's non-native Beijinger residents to buy property and limiting native Beijingers to owning just two properties, among other rules.

"Expect a cottage industry to develop around fake divorces, fake marriages to poor Beijing residents, and 'renting' of Beijing residents’ identity cards to allow people to exploit loopholes and buy property," he writes, while pointing out that the current one-home buying restrictions on foreigners with Z-visas remains unchanged.