Beijing may do more to address homebuyers' concerns about rising house prices, said Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development spokesperson Xu Zhijun.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Xu said the local government may introduce additional financial measures including ones related to taxation and credit availability.

"Our target and decision to stabilize housing prices have never changed," he said. "Besides, local government will construct more affordable houses for low-income families to ease pressure and support the healthy development of the real estate market."

Statistics released on Tuesday show newly-constructed affordable housing projects accounted for 36.48 million square meters of real estate between 2006 and 2010. Affordable housing comprised 33.3 percent of all residential real estate in the city.

And the average residential area per person reached 28.8 sq m in 2009, an 11.2 percent increase from the 25.9 sq m each person enjoyed in 2005.

Xu said affordable housing projects set for the following five years will account for 60 percent of residential real estate projects. He added that homebuyers' safety concerns were the inspiration for vigorous quality checks on all new homes during recent years.

The news followed high-profile incidents involving safety that included the demolition of six under-construction high-rises in Beijing because of the use of poor quality cement.

He said Beijing was the first city in the country to creatively establish a system through which it carries out quality checks on every new home.

The system that tracks the work of construction companies, monitoring organizations and material providers began in 2006.

Back then, almost 25 percent of homes failed quality checks.

They were found to have such problems as cracks in walls, leaks and poor insulation around windows and doors.

Xu said things have improved and the local government has brought in more than 90 regulations pertaining to the safety of projects and ensured the quality checks explore every step of the construction process.

(China Daily December 16, 2010)