Editor's note: The government's recent moves are effective in cooling the red-hot property market. But there is still a long way to go to ensure the healthy development of its property sector.

The ongoing fall in housing prices and property shares is largely a knee-jerk reaction to recent government moves, which have been branded as the most draconian measures for the property market in history.

Policymakers can take some comfort from the immediate effect of their latest efforts to cool the red-hot property market. Yet, to successfully prick the housing bubble, they still have to fight a long war against runaway speculation on both sides of the real estate market.

Such measures are expected to help cut demand to slow the surge of property prices in 70 Chinese cities, which just saw a record 11.7 percent rise in prices in March.

But the excessive price increases in the property market are not just because of the masses' desperate attempts to buy homes. Both local governments that are eager to reap more revenues from land sales and property developers that want to make as much profit as possible from home sales have also done their part to fuel the property bubble.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is beginning to tackle such speculation on the supply side of the real estate market. The ministry vowed to punish developers that artificially create supply shortages and imposed stricter control on developers' sales tactics.

It is no secret that some developers hoard land or intentionally delay sales to speculate on further price gains. Some even spread false information and hype up sales by hiring people to pose as buyers.

To secure the healthy development of a property sector that can also serve as a long-term growth engine for the national economy, policymakers should spare no effort to battle realty speculation.

(China Daily 04/21/2010 page8)