Signs of China property easing on govt measures

[BEIJING] China's home prices rose at the quickest annual pace on record in November, but signs emerged that the government's four-year effort to cool the market may be starting to bear fruit as monthly gains marked the slowest this year.

House prices in China have surged in the past year, in part due to a view that property remains one of the best investments, prompting the government to introduce targeted measures aimed at restraining the market without damaging one of the pillars of growth in a slowing economy.

Those measures have started to bite, with yesterday's data showing that monthly price gains in November were the slowest this year, pointing to a moderation in rises in the coming months. "The headline figure is quite alarming, though it's not really new and there's been such high growth in the past mainly due to the low base and rapid growth in the beginning of this year," said Alfred Lau, property analyst at Bank of Communications International in Hong Kong. However, ordinary Chinese in most cities still face home prices that are well beyond their reach, adding the threat of social unrest to that of a bubble, and Mr Lau noted that the government may impose more curbs if prices continued to rise.