Society

Report says residential housing overpriced

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-09 00:31

BEIJING - A report by a leading think tank in China showed Wednesday that residential housing in the country's large and medium-sized cities is overpriced and in some cities are severely overpriced.

Ordinary commercial residential housing in 35 large and medium-sized cities are, on average, about 29.5 percent overpriced, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said in its annual report on China's housing conditions.

Among the 35 cities, five see homes more than 50 percent overcharged, and 11 see houses 30 percent to 50 percent overpriced, said the CASS.

However, the projections might be exaggerated or underestimated due to the accuracy of the statistics provided by some cities, said the CASS.

The CASS said, in another report Tuesday, that China's housing price was expected to rise by 15 percent in 2010, down from 25 percent in 2009, but warned of "retaliatory price rebound" in 2011 if government measures aimed at cooling the market were relaxed.