China must keep house costs down, Wen says

Premier Wen Jiabao said on Saturday that the government will resolutely implement real estate market regulation and commit itself for the long-term to curbing speculation, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Wen said housing market regulation is still at a critical stage and remains a tough task when he visited Changzhou, in East China's Jiangsu province, for inspection and fact-finding on Saturday, Xinhua said.

Housing prices must revert to reasonable levels and must be sustained there, said Wen.

In June, newly developed homes in some major cities saw rising prices, raising concerns and fears that a new price surge would come despite government attempts to strengthen price controls, including restrictions on home purchases, higher down payments and the introduction of property taxes.

According to a report released on July 2 by the China Index Academy, new home average prices in China rose for the first time in 10 months in June as the government adjusted its monetary policies to boost the nation's economy by lowering benchmark interest rates in June. The academy is one of the largest research organizations that specialize in property information in China.

House prices rose by 0.05 percent from May, reaching 8,688 yuan ($1,400) per square meter in June.

The median new-home price in 100 monitored cities around China climbed to 5,750 yuan per square meter, a 0.88 percent month-on-month increase, according to the report. Month-on-month comparisons show that the average price of new homes in 10 monitored major cities in China grew in June.

In Shanghai and Beijing, the average price of 10 monitored properties hit 15,429 yuan per sq m, a 0.75 percent month-on-month increase.

After years of hard work, property regulation has borne some fruit. However, bad information in the marketplace is making residents fear prices will rebound, Wen said.

The premier asked for work to prevent misleading information that would alarm consumers and urged sticking to the differentiated mortgage policy and other restrictive purchase rules.

Wen also urged relevant departments to accelerate the construction of affordable housing and make it sustainable.

Housing price in the next half of 2012 may not rebound soon, given economic conditions and controls by the government, according to Jim Yip, director of the investment department at DTZ China, a leading international property services firm.