Deals on new houses in Chinese capital Beijing in the past month were half of that in April, a result of the implementation of a new policy the government issued in April to curb surging real estate prices, city officials said Tuesday.

According to the latest statistics on the city's pre-sale registration of commercial housing, 13,302 apartments covering a floor space of 1.57 million square meters were registered for sale one month after the new policy took effect since April 11.

The figures showed a decrease of 48 percent and 47 percent, respectively, from those recorded a month earlier, said an official of the Beijing municipal construction commission.

The new housing policy, jointly issued by seven major government ministries, proposes using tax and other policies to discourage speculative dealings and ensure the supply of affordable housing.

The official said that in anticipation of a drop in housing prices, a large number of potential buyers postponed their house buying plans.

Housing developers, instead of lowering the prices of their houses, also took a wait-and-see attitude, in a hope that the property market might warm again sometime later.

"This explains why housing price did not drop as heavily as in Shanghai and other places of the country," said the official.

The official noted that the new policy did affect the trading of houses in Beijing, but "the ultimate goal of the policy is to stabilize housing price and its effect could be felt at the end of the year."

(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2005)