The just-concluded 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China reiterated that houses are for living, not for speculation, indicating that the measures to control housing prices will continue.

The authorities will continue to rein in speculation to stabilize the real estate market, but given the strong demand for housing in first-and second-tier cities, housing prices there are unlikely to decline in the short term.

The measures to control housing prices, however, will continue and could even expand to more third-and fourth-tier cities. And owing to the deflating asset price bubble, banking and financial institutions will make greater efforts to strengthen fund supervision, in order to avoid inflow of speculative funds into the real estate market.