A senior Chinese official of housing said on Friday that it remained difficult to regulate China's real estate market as local governments were too reliant on revenue from land sales.

Qiu Baoxing, vice minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said a rising housing demand due to urbanization, limited investment channels at home and inflows of international speculative capital also made cooling the property market difficult.

Housing prices rising too fast could lead to an asset bubble, affecting financial stability, economic development and social stability, Qiu noted.

Qiu added that tempering the real estate market required a "policy toolkit", which should not only include policies in land managing, taxation and financial areas, but also include an increase in affordable housing supplies.

The Chinese government has introduced a series of measures this year to crack down on property speculation and rein in house prices. These measures include suspending mortgage loans for third home purchasers and raising down-payments.

Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 8.6 percent year-on-year in October, the lowest year-on-year increase in 2010. However, on a month-on-month basis, housing prices rose 0.2 percent from September.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2010)