CRI听力：Bo'ao Forum

Reporter:
The afternoon session, groups four successful businessmen.(www.hXen.com)

Each offered candid and frank views on the struggling industry.

Shi NengZi was one of them. He says the world financial turmoil, definitely hurts the industry.

"The housing industry is deeply intertwined with the banking sector. The world financial turmoil has left many big banks in a wait-and-see when it comes to lending to real estate developers. It also hurts people's confidence to consume. When lending and consumption confidence go low at the same time, well, you end up with nothing but troubles."

Reports say the industry has been recovering from last year's plunge.

But whether it will recover quickly, remains questionable.

Pan Shiyi, a celebrity developer, and chairman of SOHO China, says developers have to realize the broad changes in the market.

"The Chinese property market has a three-tier structure: the high-end office buildings for prominent international businesses, the low-end residence buildings for the grassroots, and those in between, mainly office buildings for Chinese private businesses. We need to realize that we have to shift our focus from the top tier to the middle, for we all know what is happening to the giants. We need to thrive on domestic business demands."

Not just the developers, but the government has come to recognize the need to rethink their strategies to deal with the industry.

Ren Zhiqiang, the president of Beijing Huayuan group, one of the country's biggest state-owned developers, says the Chinese government is changing.

"We all noticed a change of wording during the revision of this year's annual government work report. The final version says, every person is entitled to live in a proper place, instead of everybody is entitled to a house. That's a significant change of direction. Now we're no longer making a lot of affordable residence buildings, which turned out to be not so cheap or popular. In stead, the government is emphasizing low-rent housing."

Hopefully, with both the government and the developers coming to senses, and the gradual evolution of the three-tier structure of the housing industry, the property market in China will see a steady and healthy development in the future.

Damin, CRI news.