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House prices 'harming building of harmony'

By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-30 10:45

Addressing the most pertinent concerns of the public has been listed as one of the goals of building a harmonious society in China, which also aims to enable all the people to share its social wealth, and forge an ever closer relationship between the people and government.

"I believe there will be an outcome in this wrestling match before the 17th national congress of the Communist Party of China (scheduled for the second half of this year), and Beijing will be the first to react to the outcome," Dai said.

By yesterday, half of online voters participating in a survey on the www.focus.cn, a popular housing information portal, said they believed housing prices would rise this year, compared with nearly 70 percent of voters who thought so three weeks ago.

The housing issue was also a key concern of the Beijing municipal political advisers and law makers during their annual sessions last week and this week.

Liu Yaowei, who was attending the Fifth Session of the 10th Beijing Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference, which concluded yesterday, proposed the government build more cheap houses to be rented by the low income segment.

"If people would not rush to buy new homes, the supply and demand will be balanced, and ultimately the price will be stabilized," he said.

Strikingly, Dai's report listed rental fees as the largest source of investment income for Beijingers last year.

Dai did not specify how much the rentals contributed to the city's per capita urban income of 16,677 yuan ($2,138), earned between January and October last year.