China Home Prices Continue to Rise

　　The latest government figures are suggesting the prices of both new and existing homes are continuing to rise in most Chinese cities, adding additional stress on the government in its attempt to try to control the housing market.

 

　　CRI's Su Yi has the details.

 

　　Out of the 70 cities monitored, 63 have seen monthly home price increases in June, though it is down from 65 in May.

 

　　On a year-on-year basis, new home prices have risen last month in all the cities monitored except Wenzhou in Zhejiang.

 

　　Existing home prices are also increasing in value, with 55 cities reporting month-on-month price gains.

 

　　In the first-tier cities, home prices have all witnessed a sharp rise in both a monthly and yearly basis.

 

　　In Beijing, new home prices are an average of 1.7-percent higher than last month.

 

　　On an annualized basis, the cost of buying a home in Beijing is close to 17-percent higher than it was last year at this time.

 

　　Property prices here in China have been on the rise since the second half of last year when the new housing regulations were first brought in.

 

　　Runaway¹ housing prices forced the government to bring in a number of measures to try to tighten² up the market.

 

　　They include higher transaction taxes, restrictions³ on the purchases of multiple homes, and higher down payments.

 

　　Despite this, most industry observers say the moves have so far failed to stop the upsurge of property prices.

 

　　A number of real-estate experts say they believe the situation can't be turned around in the short term because of the supply-demand imbalance, particularly in big cities.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Su Yi.

1 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

2 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。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制