英闻天下——527 Property Market Still Hot Despite New Curbing Policies

 　　The 2013 Beijing Property Expo is the first property exhibition to take place following the central government's introduction of a policy designed to curb¹ the over-heated real estate market in April.

 

　　Huang Xu is in his 30s. He is a supervisor² at an investment company in Beijing. After wondering around the expo for more than 6 hours, he wasn't able to find a real estate project which he was willing to consider, let alone a property that he was willing to buy. Huang says there is only one reason for this: property is too expensive.

 

　　"Currently, I haven't chosen any property. It's too expensive. I am still considering. The price is really unacceptable."

 

　　Huang Xu quit his previous job in 2010 to take up a new position which would allow him to earn more money in order to buy an apartment of his own. His current salary is double the amount of his previous job, but he says the rate at which his income rises is not in line with the rate at which property prices have soared.

 

　　"Before, I had a very good job in a state owned enterprise. I quit that and chose to enter the finance industry because the price of property is too high. I earned more than 4,000 yuan a month when I was in the SOE; now my salary is twice as much. However, the speed of my salary rise can't catch up with the rising price of property."

 

　　To tackle property price hikes, the government has issued a series of policies year after year.

 

　　On March 1 this year, the government rolled out a regulatory plan to tighten³ control over the sizzling property market, including a new capital gains tax as high as 20 percent on secondhand home sales and higher down payments for second-home buyers.

 

　　However, newly released data for China's property sector⁴ in the first quarter of the year demonstrated a confused market, which will make clear-cut policy implementation⁵ a tough task.

 

　　Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics indicate that housing costs rose 0.5 percent month on month in March, with rent up 1.2 percent.

 

　　According to the China Real Estate Index System, during the same period, average new home prices in 100 major Chinese cities rose 1.06 percent from February to 9,998 yuan per square meter, marking the 10th consecutive⁶ month of increases.

 

　　Xing Tao, director of a real estate project in Beijing believes that property prices will maintain their rising trend.

 

　　"I think the price will rise slowly and steadily⁷. It will take time for policies designed to curb the market to take effect. The real estate developers will make adjustments according to the market demand. After a period of time, property prices will stabilize⁸."

 

　　While most of the domestic projects exhibited at the fair are located in third or fourth-tier cities, real estate companies from overseas have brought with them more than 200 projects.

 

　　Overseas real estate developers have shifted their focus onto the Chinese market in view of China's fast-growing economy and the continuing economic crisis in western countries.

 

　　A quarterly survey conducted by the central bank showed that 34.4 percent of its depositors believe that housing prices will continue to rise in the next quarter, although a considerable amount of demand was unleashed⁹ in the form of last-minute purchases ahead of the announcement of local property curbs¹⁰ in late March.

 

　　According the central bank's survey, 14.8 percent of respondents say they will buy property in the next three months, down 0.6 percentage points from the fourth quarter last year.

 

　　For CRI, I am Li Dong.

1 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

2 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

3 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

6 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

7 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

8 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

9 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 curbs   

v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In executing his functions he is not bound by any legal curbs on his power. 在他履行职务时，他的权力是不受任何法律约束的。 来自辞典例句
• Curbs on air travel were being worked out and would shortly be announced. 限制航空旅行的有关规定正在拟定中，不久即将公布。 来自辞典例句