Check zooming property prices

The soaring housing prices in Shenzhen once again highlight the importance and necessity of putting in place an effective supervisory system to oversee the implementation of relevant State documents to rein in the country's speculation-prone property market.

Housing prices in the booming southern city have risen at an unbelievable pace over the past few months. According to data released by the city's planning and land commission, local prices of newly-built homes rose to a record 20,940 yuan ($3,066) per sq m on average in September, a drastic 68.45 percent rise over a year earlier, in defiance of a steep sales decline. Statistics also indicate that property prices in the country's first special economic zone have kept climbing in the past seven consecutive months, with a total 91 percent over the February figure.

The latest round of drastic price hikes is even beyond the previous market expectations. Between the end of last year and early this year, most people were still forecasting the real estate market in terms of the extent to which Shenzhen's housing prices would drop. A majority of developers were acutely pessimistic about market prospects and then took available means to sell completed houses to accelerate the return of invested fund as early as possible. At that time, the property news that often hit the headlines were largely similar to the claims that "home prices keep declining" and "entrapped home buyers breach contracts signed with developers and want homes to be returned".