1st Ld-Writethru: China vows to cut excessive urban real estate inventory

China will take targeted policies to cut excessive real estate inventory in the third- and fourth-tier cities and support residents to buy homes for personal use, according to a government work report delivered at the annual parliamentary session Sunday.

"We need to be clear that housing is for people to live in, and local governments should take primary responsibility in this respect," said the report by Premier Li Keqiang to the fifth session of the National People's Congress.

The report pledged to establish long-term mechanisms for promoting the steady and sound development of the real estate sector and to take more category-based and targeted steps to regulate the market.

Cities that are under big pressure from rising housing prices need to increase appropriate supply of land for residential use, and housing development, marketing and intermediary services should be better regulated, it said.

The government also plans to renovate another 6 million housing units in urban rundown areas this year, according to the report.

China is seeking to maintain stability in the property market this year after the roller coaster ride of 2016, with measures to prevent price surges in metropolises and reduce inventories in small cities.

The country's unsold homes dropped 11 percent year on year to 403 million square meters at the end of 2016. Endi