House prices have continued to surge upwards but would-be buyers will be comforted by a national survey which suggested they may be slowing down.

Prices rose by 1.8 percent on average in the final quarter of last year, compared with the same period the year before, while the annual increase stood at 2.2 percent.

The regular survey is jointly conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Development Planning Commission.

Real estate markets in 35 middle-sized and large cities across the country were the targets of the survey.

Dealers enjoyed a buoyant market, with house sales continuing to do well.

This was matched in the rental market with landlords reporting more interest from house hunters.

The survey revealed average rents in China in the last quarter increased by 0.9 percent on the same period of 2000 while the annual rent growth rate rose by 2.8 percent.

Among the 35 cities, only North China's Taiyuan and the coastal port city of Dalian have witnessed a decrease in house prices.

The quarter-on-quarter comedown rate dropped 0.9 and 3.4 percent respectively.

While house prices in most cities maintained slow growth, homebuyers in Shanghai and East China's port city of Ningbo saw a respective quarter-on-quarter jump of 5.1 and 9 percent.

In Beijing, one of the most expensive cities in terms of housing, house and office buyers had to pay 1 percent more than in 2000 if they bought in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the survey.

But the average price of a residential house in Beijing reached 4,771 yuan (US$576) per square meter in the final month of last year - a 25.8 percent jump over December 2000. Per capita income of Beijing residents only increased by 10 percent.

Most homebuyers in Beijing complained of price rises in those residential buildings specially built for middle and low-income families.

For instance, housing developers for Tiantongyuan Community - which is a large-scale residential area in the northern suburbs of Beijing - increased house prices from 2,650 yuan (US$319) to 2,950 yuan (US$355) per square meter at the end of last year.

"I think prices for those houses which are part of the nation's security system should not be allowed to increase so sharply," said 27-year-old Li Pin, working in a private company in Beijing's Haidian District.

(China Daily January 30, 2002)