The blue book points to the risk of a housing bubble. It cites the southern city Shenzhen. Home prices there rose nearly 80 percent compared with a year ago. The blue book says although the price surge could be supported by factors like accommodation demands and higher income, the price didn't go up without stimulus measures. CCTV's reporter takes a look how the government has reacted and the impact of the policies.
In April last year, the home price in Shenzhen was about 26,000 yuan per square meter. One year later, close to 50,000 yuan. But it was already a 0.2% drop compared with March, a slight drop which could mean a turning point.
What's more conspicuous is the volume of transactions in March over 4,400 units, in April, the number almost halved. One key reason was a more stringent purchasing limit rolled out in March.
"Two aspects contribute to the current market picture. One, policy. Not only the new measures rolled on March 25th, but also de-leveraging in the financial sector, and also raising the appraised price. It's only the first stage when policies rolled out and impacted the market. I think the policies will continue to work," said Chen Aipin, Standing Vice Chair of Shenzhen Housing Research Association.
Nationwide, fresh data from the China Index Academy shows that among the 100 cities it monitors, new home prices rose 1.45 percent on average in April from March, to reach about 11500 yuan per square meter.
Seventy-one of the 100 cities surveyed reported higher home prices in April. Prices in 25 cities dropped, and prices in four others remained unchanged.
And in Shenzhen, a major policy change. The city will be first in the country to pilot the policy which will only allow developers to sell housing already built. Buyers can't pre-order.
Some experts believe this will raise the threshold, and discourage developers from driving up the land prices too high during land auctions.
"Selling finished homes means that you have to figure out the capital yourself before selling. You can't enter the market ahead of time to fill in your capital shortage." "This will also eliminate the risk of a cash crunch," said Song Ding from China Development Institute.
But some disagree saying developers do not lack for capital or capital organizations to cooperate with.
"Because the cost of the capital paid by developers is higher, it will be transferred to customers. So selling finished homes won't bring down the price," said He Jingru from Midland Realty.
Insiders say for now, there's a lot of wait and see, as the market has entered a period of adjustment.