Speculation by listed companies distorting the real estate market

STATISTICS SHOW THAT 46 percent of the 3,582 companies listed in China's A-share market possess real estate investments, which are worth about 990 billion yuan ($149 billion) in total, up nearly 20 percent year-on-year. Beijing News comments:

It is no secret that the listed companies have become the main speculators in the realty market, pocketing thick and easy returns from the fast rise of housing prices, as local governments' macro-control policies to control housing prices have largely put private buyers in their cross hairs over the past 10 years.

No wonder the governments of Xi'an, Changsha and Hangzhou have suspended enterprises and public institutes purchasing residential houses recently, and that more local governments are likely to follow suit.