国内英语新闻:China takes big steps in affordable housing to bring down real estate fever

The latest report from the State Information Center(SIC) also noted that the construction of the 3 million affordable homes and 2.8 million units renovated in urban shantytowns is shaping the property market in a more reasonable manner.

"Only a dualistic structure that balances the development of both low-cost housing and commercial housing could ensure a stable and healthy market," said the report.

However, both policy makers and market observers have pointed out that the good intentions of the central government's regulations and construction plans could fade if local governments, which rely largely on land transfers for their revenues, fail to have them properly implemented.

Zhang also warned that local governments might not be as eager as the central administration about affordable housing projects.

"The central government is determined to speed up affordable housing construction, but it depends on local governments to carry out the plans," he said.

Local governments could be reluctant to implement them, as they are asked to both transfer the land at a low price and help finance these projects, which will definitely reduce their fiscal revenues, he explained.

Despite that the past year had seen "the most strict curbs on property market", land transactions had brought 2.7 trillion yuan in revenue to Chinese local governments last year, a 70.4 percent surge year on year.

In contrast, the Chinese central government provided 55.06 billion yuan to finance affordable housing construction in 2009, while local governments spent only 17.54 billion.

Xu Shaoshi, minister of land and resources, said earlier this month that the rapid increase in land transaction fees suggested that China's urban development is becoming more dependent on land sales, which triggered an uneven distribution of interests and social conflicts.

Experts suggested that the central government should take the implementation of affordable housing plans into consideration when assessing local governments' performance, and further improve the legal system to enhance supervision over enforcement of housing projects.

In response to the central government's urgings, China's local governments have begun to unveil plans on low-cost housing this year. In the country's economic hub of Shanghai, where home prices rose 37.24 percent year on year last November, the government announced plans to build 15 million square meters of affordable homes.

The city government also promised that of all new homes to be built this year, 5 percent must be affordable.