Eyeing housing prices

For those who expect recent government measures to stanch rising home prices, the jury is still out.

Two things point to why the measures are not yet working: The newly released data on home prices stating that China's property prices rose at the fastest pace in 18 months in December, and the fact that the government has yet to map out a feasible and fundamental strategy to stabilize housing prices.

The country's residential and commercial real estate prices in 70 cities climbed 7.8 percent year-on-year, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday. Prices hiked 5.7 percent in November. Prices of new homes shot up 9.1 percent after it grew 6.2 percent in the previous month.