Shanghai property market cools, prices to be stable in 2017

[BEIJING] Home prices in China's financial hub of Shanghai will remain stable in 2017, as cooling measures have taken some heat out of the market, housing authorities were quoted as saying on Sunday.

Property prices have soared in China's biggest cities such as Shanghai and Beijing since last year, prompting regulators to step up control to rein in the market to avoid a crash.

Shanghai's price trends are stabilising as property overheating has been contained after a slew of cooling measures introduced in March and October last year, state news agency Xinhua said, citing Gu Jinshan, director of the Shanghai housing bureau.

Mr Gu said Shanghai has given priority to demand from genuine buyers instead of speculators, and cracked down on market irregularities.

A city-based property control approach endorsed by the central government had set "an important foundation" for stabilising price trends in the city, Mr Gu added.

Authorities have been careful to not correct the property market too hard as they have refrained from drastic blanket measures such as increasing interest rates.

But economists say a cooling real estate market may expose the world's second-largest economy to systematic financial risks.

REUTERS