Government to boost Chinese property market

　　Facing a housing market lull which could drag China's economy further in the backdrop of a worldwide financial crisis, Beijing is probing possibilities to loosen its macro control to activate the real estate sector.

　　As many as 18 Chinese cities, including Shanghai,Guangzhou,Hangzhou and Xi'an, have announced detailed policies to boost their property market, which have seen at least four months of consecutive drops in housing prices.

　　Propelled by the local governments' measures, the central government is believed to be studying market trends. Analysts predict that Beijing is expected to jump on the bandwagon by rectifying its strict regulatory decrees of higher taxation, and removing draconian control on bank lending to anyone buying second homes.

　　Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference Thursday in Beijing, Du Ying, deputy minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters that the real estate industry, a major sector of China's fixed-asset investment, that a major drive behind the country's past rapid economic rise is declining, and the government is "closely watching developments".

　　Some Chinese economists caution that a worsening slump in the real estate market in China would not only undermine the healthy growth of the economy, but also put the country's financial system at risk.