A report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) predicted that
housing prices in China would keep on rising this year and the
increase rate would roughly equal that of 2007.
The sale of residential buildings this year would hit 697.99
million square meters, up 2.24 percent year-on-year, according to
the report on the prospects of the Chinese economy in 2008 released
on Friday by the CAS forecasting center.
The real estate market would maintain a "good momentum," and
investment in the property sector would reach 2,54 trillion yuan
(about 347.5 billion yuan), the report said.
The total floor space of "completed" buildings would drop 8.2
percent to 1.9 billion square meters in 2008, leading to a further
dwindling of the housing supply, said the report, noting that the
imbalance between supply and demand would be aggravated.
From January to November of 2007, housing prices in 70 major
Chinese cities jumped 7.3 percent year-on-year. Housing prices were
up at a rate of 10.5 percent in November alone, a report by the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) showed.
The November rate was the highest monthly gain since July 2005
when the monthly housing price survey was started.
(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2008)
