The southern metropolis of Guangzhou has seen a sharp decline in residents' inclination to buy housing, as China's housing price growth rate gears down, according to a survey issued Tuesday.

 

Only 7.8 percent of the families surveyed said they planned to buy housing in 2006, 4.8 percentage points less than that in 2005, shows the survey.

 

Among them, 53.6 percent will choose newly-built commercial housing, 42.3 percent will buy second-hand housing, and the remaining 4.1 percent had other choices.

 

The survey was conducted by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics on the basis of issuing questionnaire to 10,000 citizens aged between 18 and 60.

 

The survey found a big gap between the accepted housing price and the one at present. Residents wanted to buy housing at an average price of 3,900 yuan (487.5 U.S. dollars) per square meter, while the current average price of commercial housing in urban areas of Guangzhou, capital of China's economy dynamic Guangdong Province, is more than 5,500 yuan (687.5 dollars) per square meter.

 

It held that the inclination weakening resulted in the sluggish price hike due to macro-control policies.

 

The average housing price in 70 Chinese mid- and large-cities has geared down to 0.6 percent in the second half of this year, according to Chinese Minister of Construction Wang Guangtao in late December.

 

Wang told a National Construction Work Conference that great progress had been achieved in the government's effort to ease the rocketing housing price in China.

 

The Chinese government has introduced various measures to prevent overheating in the real estate industry, which has attracted speculative funds.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2006)