China property sales growth slowing in 2006
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-12 16:44

Property sales in China are expected to rise by 20 percent in 2006, slowing from 30 percent annual growth last year, the state planning agency said in a report published Thursday.

"The property sector has entered a medium-term correction since mid-2005, which may last for at least three years," the National Development and Reform Commission said in the report, carried by the newspaper China Securities Journal.

Some of the weaker property developers are bound to succumb to the correction, saddling banks with unpaid loans, the report said.

It said it would be "unrealistic" to expect any rebound in the next two years.

The report did not give a dollar figure for property sales. However, it said the value of property investments rose 21 percent in 2005 to 1.59 trillion yuan (US$197 billion).

In March 2005, the government began to take action to curb surging property prices. In Shanghai, new tax and property dealing regulations were put in force to help discourage speculative dealings.