If prices of houses cannot be lowered to reasonable levels, no consumer would rush to buy them just for the sake of patriotism, says an article on the website of Xinhua News Agency. The following is an excerpt:

To stimulate consumption, Sun Jinlong, the Party chief of Hefei, Anhui province, bought a house of more than 80 sq m to boost the sluggish property market. Wang Aihua, the city planning head of Hefei, even linked the purchase of a house to patriotism on a local television program.

In fact, Wang is not the first one to relate the buying of a house to patriotism. A professor named Zhao Xiao previously equated the purchase of a house with the love of the country.

Of course, the public has questioned these remarks. In today's world, consumers are not nuts who would do what the scholars and officials want them to do. The real estate market involves two parties. Besides looking at the money in the would-be house buyers' pockets, we must also check whether the houses are worthy - whether they are of good quality or their prices reasonable. As for prices, it is obvious that 2009 is a year in which housing prices will face a readjustment, which mostly means price cuts. Even the central government asked the real estate developers to lower prices to boost sales.

In attracting consumers to pay for houses, the services and the prices are the determining factors. Without the price cuts, consumers will not rush to buy houses even if you link it to patriotism.

(China Daily January 21, 2009)