Property price growth in China slowed in January for a fourth straight month, leading housing minister Chen Zhenggao to say that he was “fully confident” of the outlook for the country’s property market.
Chinese authorities issued a range of curbs on the property sector last year, as a concentration of price increases in the wealthiest cities stoked fears of an imminent crash.
Financial magazine Caixin quoted Chen as saying:
“China’s urbanisation process still has a long way to go, so the property market still has vast potential to develop further. As long as China’s economic fundamentals still remain strong, the real estate market will not change.”
The government still has many plans up its sleeve in order to regulate the property market which could be necessary since, despite the slowdown in growth, house prices still rose by 12.2% in January from a year earlier.
Last month, Chen was reported as saying that house prices would remain stable in the first quarter of 2017, and that the government had the capacity and methods to stabilise the market if necessary.
The announcement came a day after land minister Jiang Daming claimed that China will curb speculative land purchases as it looks to fend off risks in the property market.
According to Daming, city governments within China will now have to publish medium-term residential land-use plans in a bid to providing a more stable outlook.
