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“People's expectations of future property prices will definitely be changed. The likelihood of further price surges is becoming minimal,” said Fan.
The government is trying to slow economic growth to eight percent this year, from an eight-year high of 9.5 percent last year, by restricting investment in property and other industries.
Investment in real estate in the first two months jumped 27 percent to 120 billion yuan (US$14.49 billion), the government said this month.
“Local governments must put on the agenda the important task of stabilizing housing prices,” said the State Council document, dated March 26.
“People in charge will be held responsible if there are no effective measures to prevent housing prices from rising too fast”, the document said.
Prices in Shanghai surged 18 percent in the past year, according to the city government's property index.
Shanghai's property prices are “worthy of concern and attention,” central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said March 9.
The State Council urged local governments to increase construction of cheaper homes for low-income families, make better use of idle land and slow the pace of housing demolitions to ease supply shortages.
The 16 banks operating in Shanghai agreed to stop making loans for homes that are being sold within a year of purchase to help cool speculation. The city government earlier this month imposed a 5.6 percent capital gains tax on such sales.
Nationwide, property prices rose 10.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, accelerating from an 8.6 percent gain in the previous three months, government figures show.
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