Restrictive housing policy may fail to cool real estate market

THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF HANGZHOU, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, implemented a new housing policy on Monday, barring families that already own one or more houses from buying another. Will that help cool the overheated realty market? Beijing News comments:

Hangzhou is not the only city that has implemented a restrictive housing policy. With housing prices continuing to increase sharply, several second-tier cities such as Nanjing, Wuhan and Hefei have taken similar measures.

Yet such moves have failed to cool the market. Instead, just the opposite has happened. Expecting realty prices to rise more sharply, people have invested more aggressively in properties.