Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural.....>

CHINA PRESS: Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has talked to local

governments of 12 cities, including Hai Kou and Harbin, whose housing prices

have risen too rapidly recently, reported Shanghai Securities Journal on

Thursday. After the talks, some of these cities immediately published price

control policies on the property market to contain speculation, the report said.

MOHURD has iterated that controls on the property market will not be relaxed; in

fact, analysts expect more controlling measures to be put into place in May,

including restricting purchasing and selling and adjusting mortgage rates, the

report said, citing Xia Dan, the senior researcher at Bank of Communications

Financial Research Center.