The spreading sub-prime crisis in the United States was unlikely to have a serious impact on China's real estate sector, said an economist in the Real Estate Dialogue held Friday on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia 2008 annual conference.

Chen Huai, dean of the policy research office of the ministry of housing and urban-rural construction, also denied that China's real estate sector is in the trough.

"The process of urbanization in China is a long-term strategy that will last 20 to 30 years, it will not be easily affected by individual events such as the American sub-prime crisis and the Olympic Games," Chen said.

The US sub-prime mortgage crisis became a heated topic at the Dialogue. Some speakers worried that the crisis would spread to other areas in the world, including China, where the real estate sector would face a fairly difficult time.

"I don't think China's real estate industry will really drop," Chen said. The crisis would not bring a "winter" for China's real estate industry, because "it's not Chinese banks that granted mortgage to the US people, and it's not the Chinese people who have borrowed from the US banks," said Chen.

The Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2008 is slated for April 11 to 13. The theme of the conference is "Green Asia: moving towards win-win through changes".

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2008)