Time to curb housing speculation

ON THURSDAY, the National Bureau of Statistics released data on the April housing prices in 70 metropolises and medium-sized cities. From this information, it can be concluded that the realty prices in the 70 cities have been stabilizing. Beijing News comments:

In the four major metropolises, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the prices of newly constructed buildings continue to fall. Some argue that realty prices in certain second- and thirdtier cities continue rising, but the rate of increase is small and declining. The rapid rising trend for housing prices in these cities has been curbed, and the stabilizing prices are conducive to the steady development of the housing markets in these cities.

The price differentiation of housing in different cities is obvious, and hits two birds with one stone: destocking the existing inventories in second-and third-tier cities, while taking some of the heat out of realty markets in metropolises.

That’s the result of each of the 70 cities adopting its own macro-control plan that suits its own conditions over the past two years, instead of taking exactly the same measures.

The current conditions also make it possible to take further diversified measures in different cities rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all policy. This will help promote the healthy and sustainable development of the real estate industry in various cities.

However, certain third-and fourth-tier cities, which are not on the list of 70 cities, have seen their realty prices rising at quite high rates in the past few months. In some third-and fourth-tier cities, realty prices have risen by 5 even 10 percent compared with that of last year, which increases the financial burden for the young people there. This deserves attention. It is time to strengthen macro-control measures in these cities to prevent their housing markets overheating.