4 more Chinese cities urged to stabilise property prices
BEIJING: China’s housing regulator has urged four more cities to prevent their residential property markets from overheating in the latest sign that authorities are not about to relax their grip on the real estate business to spur the economy.
The cities of Suzhou, Foshan, Dalian and Nanning have been told by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to stabilise land and housing prices as well as market expectations, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Saturday.
Six other cities were warned by the ministry last month to monitor the growth of home prices in their markets, after some cities, including Foshan, quietly started to relax some curbs since December to spur demand.
China’s home property market is a key plank of the economy, influencing tens of related sectors such as construction and financial services.
The sector has held up well despite a slowdown in growth in the world’s second-biggest economy, with policymakers walking a fine line between preserving stability and hurting market sentiment.
Renewed tensions between China and the United States over trade have added pressure on Chinese policymakers to keep the domestic economy on a stable footing while continuing to fend off risks such as housing bubbles.
Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities rose 0.6 per cent last month, unchanged from the pace of growth in March, according to a monthly survey.
Most of the 70 cities surveyed by the National Bureau of Statistics still reported monthly price gains for new homes. The number increased to 67 in April from 65 in March, signalling a slight strengthening in the market.
The housing ministry reiterated that “houses are for living in, not for speculation”, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Even before the ministry’s latest warning, the prosperous city of Suzhou, just northwest of Shanghai, had already rolled out new property curbs.