This Day, That Year: Dec 2

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Dec 2, 1986, China's first housing census was released. The survey found that there were 4.7 billion square meters of floor space in urban areas. The floor space per capita was 6.36 square meters in cities at that time.

An item from April 13, 1998, in China Daily reported that the central government decided to end the government-allocated housing system and cultivate residential housing as a new growth area.

That reform ditched China's system of linking housing distribution with employment, and the real estate sector experienced rapid development.

Last year, the housing sector accounted for 6.6 percent of the country's GDP, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The per capita floor space of urban residents reached nearly 40 square meters in 2018.

Soaring demand makes owning a home in big cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, difficult for most people.

A series of measures, including purchase limits and tough mortgage rules, have helped cool the market. The central government's resolution that homes are for living in, not for speculative investment, and that the property sector should not be treated as a short-term economic stimulus tool, appear to be a sign that real estate financing is entering an era of multidimensional regulation, industry experts said.

Of the 70 cities tracked by the NBS, all saw slower growth in new and pre-owned home prices last month.

Property developers are also becoming cautious on land purchases. Up to 550 million square meters of commercial land was traded in 336 cities across China between July and September, down 10 percent year-onyear, according to statistics from E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings in Shanghai.