Property purchasing curbs yield beneficial results

In April 2010, the State Council began imposing purchasing restrictions on the real estate market in an attempt to rein in urban housing prices. These restrictions look to be paying off - last month, only 44 out of 70 major Chinese cities saw average new home prices rise month-on-month, official data show.

Housing supplies began to balance with demand starting in 2012. This shift, along with louder calls for market-based regulations, has even led some city governments to ease earlier curbs on property sales.

From the start, the government has made no secret of its desire to make housing prices more affordable for lower- and middle-income buyers. Other top goals include the redevelopment of shantytowns as well as ending regulatory problems within the commercial property industry.

With the market settling into a period of downward adjustment, top authorities have proven reluctant to bail out developers or other property sector players. Instead we can probably expect leaders to step back and let the industry to cope with its own problems.

The author is Chen Xuegen, a media personality.