Shenzhen tries to cool realty market

Shenzhen is planning to offer more affordable housing over the next five years as part of an initiative to cool the red-hot property market, a local official said.

New-home prices in the southern city in Guangdong province, neighboring Hong Kong, increased a staggering 47.5 percent year-on-year in 2015, recording the sharpest home price increase for a Chinese city, according to the local government.

"One of the efficient measures to cool the market is to introduce more affordable housing in the years ahead," said Qiao Hengli, deputy director of the Shenzhen Urban Planning and Land Resources Commission.