China housing controls to remain tight

China will keep a firm grip on housing prices by curbing speculative real estate investments and building more affordable housing, according to a report in Caijing.com.

"The main problem of China's current real estate market is unbalanced possession of housing resources," said Qin Hong, policy research director of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

"To solve the problem, we have to further implement control policies and insist on differentiated credit and tax policies," Qin told Caijing.com.

Currently, owners of three or more residences are being denied housing loans. Although investors can still buy property by paying in full, the investments are not as attractive.

Qin also suggested that monetary policy adjustments should have a bigger impact on the property market than other control measures.

The housing market downturn early this year was mainly due to the tight monetary policies, as both real estate developers and individual buyers had limited loans available.

The real estate market is expected to recover as the monetary policy eases. But Qin also said he expects more monetary policy adjustments this year or next year, according to Caijing.com.