Housing industry faces complicated 2nd half  

中国楼市步入复杂敏感关口 调控再临多重考验

中央多次表态“房地产调控绝不放松”，地方政府频频微调政策“松绑”楼市。今年上半年，在加剧博弈中，中国房地产市场完成筑底反弹，已经跌入谷底的住房交易从“寒冬”中迅速回暖。下半年，在保增长、控房价的艰巨任务下，中国房地产市场再次踏入敏感关口，楼市调控也将呈现前所未有的复杂局面。

Beijing (CNS) -- It is anticipated China's real estate industry will enter a sensitive period after the recession and fierce rebound experienced in the first half of the year, posing huge challenges to housing industry regulators.

May saw new residential housing prices stabilize in 70 big and mid-sized cities, bringing about this year's record monthly house purchases for Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The focus of China's housing industry polices has shifted from curbing speculative house purchases to satisfying persistent demand, such as with the purchase of a first residence, pointed out Prof. Chen Guoqiang with Peking University, noting that the policies promote differentiated loan polices.

First and foremost however, the central government will stick to constraints on speculation, Chen emphasized.

From the perspective of market supply and demand, the stock of housing units will remain abundant. There are considerable new sources of housing filing into the market so property developers will be contending with the limits imposed by a controlled price hike range.

Last but not least, warming up the housing industry will to a certain extent relieve developers of their debts, yet high-debt tension still exists, for which their best strategy is to sell more units at lower prices rather than raise the price per unit.