The government will get tough on those involved in illegal activities and speculation to cool the country's booming property market, a leading construction official said yesterday.

"We are in the middle of a campaign to regulate the property market and will crack down hard on anyone engaged in illegitimate activities such as stockpiling land and bidding up prices," Qi Ji, vice-minister of construction said at a press conference.

"We will expose and punish unscrupulous developers and do everything we can to prevent price hikes driven by non-market factors," he said.