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China property sales growth slowing in 2006
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-12 16:44
Property sales in China are expected to rise by 20 percent in 2006, slowing
from 30 percent annual growth last year, the state planning agency said in a
report published Thursday.
"The property sector has entered a medium-term correction since
mid-2005, which may last for at least three years," the National Development and
Reform Commission said in the report, carried by the newspaper China
Securities Journal.
Some of the weaker property developers are bound to succumb
to the correction, saddling banks with unpaid loans, the report
said.
It said it would be "unrealistic" to expect any rebound in the next two
years.
The report did not give a dollar figure for property sales. However, it said
the value of property investments rose 21 percent in 2005 to 1.59 trillion yuan
(US$197 billion).
In March 2005, the government began to take action to
curb surging property prices. In Shanghai, new tax and property dealing
regulations were put in force to help discourage speculative
dealings.
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