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More efforts are made to construct economic
housing. |
The government will continue to regulate land supply for real estate
development this year but promised to transfer more to construct
economical housing for
low-income families, said a cabinet official.
Yuan Xiaosu, vice-minister of land and resources, urged local
governments to stop selling land to investors at low prices, in a bid to protect the country's limited
land resources.
He said the government would continuously protect primary farmland and
prevent misuse and illegal occupation of farmland so as to
ensure the country's grain security.
But Yuan said the government plans to supply more land to construct
low-cost housing in an effort to satisfy growing needs and curb rising
real estate prices.
"We are still facing the demanding task of regulating land supply in
2006 to keep land and real estate prices stable," Xinhua quoted Yuan as
saying.
The task has also challenged Construction Minister Wang Guangtao, who
said that overheated
investment in the country's real estate sector was
basically curbed in 2005.
"More real estate development will use more arable land," said Wang. "That will
cause concern over grain safety in turn," he warned.
As China sped up its urbanization and modernization of rural regions,
the majority of 1.3 billion Chinese have planned or started to buy or
build more spacious homes.
Per capita living space in
cities increased from 20 square metres in 2000 to 25 square metres last
year. The figure is 40 in the United States, 38 in Germany, and 30 in
Japan and Singapore.
Wang said that housing supply in the country is out of balance, with
insufficient lower-priced, smaller houses for low-income families.
China's real estate market has experienced a major growth in some
regions since 2002 with house prices increasing at around 15 per cent
annually on average.
In August 2004, the central government started to tighten
land and loan supply to curb the trend.
(China Daily) | 
Updated: 2006-02-07 08:00
