The mayor of the Chinese city of Shenzhen right across the border from Hong Kong expressed concern on Thursday about sizzling home prices in the city and said the government is considering tightening policy to cool the market down [..]

“We are studying on tightening measures, as well as speeding up the construction of security housing, to make sure the price is stabilised at a reasonable range,” Shenzhen mayor Xu Win said at a press briefing in the city, adding prices have been sprinting up “too fast.”

Shenzhen last year surpassed Beijing and Shanghai to become the most expensive housing market in China. A recently launched new project called China Overseas The Parago sold at 100,000 yuan per square meter, equalling the average home price in Hong Kong’s affluent Taikoo area in Hong Kong island.

Rising population and a robust economy has bolstered home prices in the southern Chinese city as it jumped nearly 50 per cent and there seems no sign of the trend slowing down.

Last month, Shenzhen’s average new home price surged another 5 per cent from last December to 44,823 yuan per square meter.

Shenzhen is already one of only five cities in China with strict home buying restrictions. Families of permanent residents are allowed to buy two residential properties, while others can only buy one.

The government is likely to further extend the home purchase threshold in terms of social security contributions by non- permanent resident to three years, from the current one year.

Read the rest of the story @ SCMP