Tighter squeeze needed

To bring down house prices, measures required to reduce local governments' dependence on the property sector

The State Council announced recently that the policies and measures introduced to cool the housing market still have to be strictly followed. A release by the State Council after an executive meeting a week ago reaffirmed curbs on the purchase of residential housing for investment purposes and expanded the scope of the property tax being piloted in Shanghai and Chongqing.

The renewed tightening measures are directly related to the developments in China's housing market over the past year. Since the adoption of a new round of regulatory measures in early 2010 the housing market has experienced some enormous changes, with the frenetic price rises being effectively checked following the launch of the strict administrative measures.