Minister of Construction Wang Guangtao said Monday at a national construction conference that his ministry would offer more guidance this year to housing developers and buyers to help them achieve more balanced development and sales.

To this end, the ministry will enhance the industry's market analysis and speed up the establishment of a forecasting and information system.

The ministry will also strengthen the administration of approving real estate projects and strictly control those new projects with inadequate capital and those from unqualified companies.

Projects for luxury flats, villas and entertainment facilities, he noted, would also be strictly supervised in 2003.

In 2002, real estate investment in China continued to grow rapidly. Investment from January to November totaled 622.8 billion Yuan (US$75.3 billion), an increase of 28.2 percent over the previous year.

However, the number of vacant houses also increased last year, while there was still a shortage of houses for middle and low-income families.

Wang said the ministry on one hand would go on adjusting the real estate market structure and on the other hand further encourage sound housing sales.

The government would take more substantial steps to stimulate the second-hand housing market and build more housing for low and middle income families, he added.

By the end of 2002, per-capita living space for China's urbanites had topped 21.5 square meters with 80 percent of urban households having their own houses.

The per capita living space for urban residents is expected to reach 22 square meters in 2005 and 25 square meters in 2010, according to official sources.

Before the per capita living space worldwide reaches between 30to 35 square meters, the real estate market would need to continue to pick up. The current real estate market in China is in a rapid-growth stage.

(People's Daily January 7, 2003)