Keep Home Prices in Check or Else, Ministry Tells Cities

The Housing Ministry has warned local governments to keep ballooning house prices in check or answer for their failures, as property speculators spill into China’s second- and third-tier cities.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development gave the warning at a symposium in Shenyang, and said that it is moving to develop a real estate market monitoring system that will allow it to better oversee control mechanisms at a more-local level.