China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development struck a softer tone in an annual statement released this week where it outlines its policy direction for the coming year, suggesting that curbs on speculation may be eased or lifted.
The Ministry said that next year’s regulations will focus on “stabilising land prices, home prices and (market) expectations,” but left out much of the no-nonsense language present in last year’s document.
Most importantly, the statement said that the government will let different cities employ different policies in accordance with their own market situation. In the past two weeks several cases have been reported of local Chinese governments lifting measures designed to cool the market.