China's continually bullish stock market may have a negative impact on the country's real estate sector in the long run by luring investors away, experts said.

"The ever-increasing stock benchmark will weigh on China's property market, but mainly on those markets featuring strong investment initiatives," said Nie Meisheng, head of the Residential Industry Association of the All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce.

But Nie told China Daily that the impact on Beijing's property market would be very limited as only one-third of property purchased in the capital is for investment purposes.

The Shanghai A-share market the world's best-performing major market this year with an 86 per cent rise seemed to be well on track to smash its record high of 2,245.435 points, set on June 14, 2001.

Statistics from the Shanghai Securities Journal show that 273,700 new accounts were opened in November, a jump of 50 per cent compared with October.

After the Shanghai benchmark index exceeded 2,000 points, there was a dramatic increase in new accounts, which peaked on November 23 with the number reaching 19,500.

Meanwhile, stock-oriented funds have also been selling particularly well recently. On December 1, a fund from ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co raised 12 billion yuan (US$1.53 billion) on the day of its launch, becoming the first to reach its fundraising target within one day.

Dai Haosheng, a researcher at a leading property developer, said that the bullish stock market is unlikely to drag down real estate prices.

"The impact could almost be negligible," Dai told China Daily.

Turnover in Shanghai-listed A shares reached a multi-month high of 52.9 billion yuan (US$6.76 billion) on Monday, but that sum is still small compared with China's huge deposits of some 1.4 trillion yuan (US$177 billion).

"Besides, Chinese people don't have many investment channels," Dai added.

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