The State Council's policies to rein in rapidly soaring housing prices in cities will continue and local governments should implement them "unswervingly", according to a statement released Monday from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, while also denying some media reports on a possible policy withdrawal.

"We will urge local governments to make sure that they strictly implement the differentiated housing loans policy to crack down on housing speculations," the ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website.

The ministry added it would adopt "positive" measures to increase the supply of commercial homes in the market, speed up construction of housing for low-income residents and renovation of shantytowns, and strengthen supervision of the real estate market conditions.

The statement came shortly after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released its latest figures on housing prices in Chinese cities.

Housing prices in major Chinese cities rose 11.4 percent year on year in June, one percentage point lower than the increase in May, according to NBS statistics.

This was the second consecutive month that China's property prices grew at a slower pace. Property prices in the 70 large- and medium-sized cities grew 12.4 percent year on year in May, 0.4 percentage point lower than in April.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, introduced a series of tightening measures in April to rein in soaring house prices and curb speculation, including tightened scrutiny of developers' financing, suspension of loans for third-home purchases and higher down-payment requirements for second-home purchases.

Housing prices almost doubled in some popular Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in 2009, prompting the Chinese government to take measures to curb these excessive hikes.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2010)