Crooked cadres in China prone to hide their dirty money in property

Their titles vary and they come from around the nation, but there is one thing the 10 corrupt officials reported by whistle-blowers in the past two months have in common: each owned more than a dozen properties.

From local police heads to bank executives, officials who own an unusually large number of properties - in an extreme case, one is suspected of having 192 - have been reported to authorities in the wake of the new leadership's call for citizens to help in the fight against corruption.

Property, although relatively illiquid, is a favoured investment on the mainland because of the record high returns that it has delivered and the opportunity it provides to launder ill-gotten gains, economists say.

"Property has always represented wealth, especially so after China's housing reforms in 1982, which sent property prices soaring," said Professor Hu Xingdou, a political analyst at the Beijing Institute of Technology.

Under the reforms, property became merchandise for individuals to buy instead of housing assigned by an employer. Prices have been buoyant over the past decade as the rich and powerful snapped up investments and ordinary people scraped savings together to buy a place to live in.