One home, one dream

The new rule that Shanghai announced on Thursday, to allow local families to purchase only one new home each for the time being, at a first glance, bears little resemblance to adroit policymaking.

Such a blanket restriction seems neither an effective measure to cool surging property prices nor fair to buyers. Beijing imposed a similar restriction in April but few consumers have noticed it, as local house prices remain prohibitive to most.

However, in spite of the apparent clumsiness of such policies, the introduction of a one-home-per-family restriction might be more needed than it appears given the country's ambition and urgent embrace of consumer-led growth.