Beijing: Young Australians aren't the only ones feeling locked out of a red-hot housing market that seems unfairly skewed towards their parents' generation.

Beijing median housing prices, which outstrip those in Sydney and Melbourne, have prompted not only a government crackdown on new home buyers, but a viral song lamenting the lost housing dream of the young.

Called My Mother-in-law Keeps Shouting at Me to Go and Buy a House, the video has been rapidly shared on social media in China.

The song laments that old "hutong" neighbourhoods are just wishful thinking for young families, because a second-hand home in Beijing costs 5.95 million Chinese yuan ($1.1 million).