'Resigned' to higher housing prices

The ever-rising price of property in China has become cause of worry for an increasing number of people, shows a survey.

Despite the measures taken last year to cool down the overheated real estate market , fewer people now believe that the prices would stabilize in the near future.

Only one-fifth of the 2,582 people polled by China Youth Daily's social research centre, sina.com and ePanel Marketing Research & Consulting Co were confident that the government's steps would check the trend. Their percentage was 60 in a similar survey conducted only two years ago.

The poll results announced yesterday showed another significant change: instead of blaming real estate investors for raising the prices to earn huge profits, as respondents had done two years ago, more people now blame the government's vulnerability in macro-control measures for the malaise.

The rising demand and the concurrent raising of prices by investors are to blame, said Bao Zonghua, president of China Real Estate and Housing Research Association. "And the macro-control measures need time to take effect."

Almost all the respondents said there was a "bubble" in the real estate market, with nearly half being certain that it would burst in 10 years. But almost 40 percent believe that the "bubble" would never burst.

A whopping 80 percent believe that real estate prices would continue to rise this year, and 30 percent fear it would do so at a greater pace.

一项调查显示，中国房价的持续攀升已成为越来越多人的一大担忧。

尽管政府去年采取了一系列抑制房地产市场过热的措施，然而人们对近期房价将趋于平稳还是不太乐观。

这项由《中国青年报》社会研究中心、新浪网、ePanel营销调查与咨询公司联合开展的调查共有2582人参加，调查显示，只有五分之一的调查对象对政府所采取的措施抱有信心。而这一比例在两年前一项类似的调查中为60%。

这项于昨天公布的调查结果还有一个显著变化：对于房价持续上涨的问题，两年前人们认为这是房地产投资者为了赚取巨额利润而抬高房价的结果，而现在则有更多的人认为这主要归咎于政府宏观调控的力度不够。

中国房地产及住宅研究会主席包宗华说，房地产需求的持续增长和房地产商不断提价是房价上涨的主要原因。"政府宏观调控的作用一段时间之后才能显现出来。"

几乎所有的受访者都认为，房地产市场存在泡沫；近一半的人认为"泡沫"十年后会"破裂"。而近40%的人认为，"泡沫"永远不会"破裂"。

高达80%的受访者认为今年的房价还会继续攀升，30%的人担心今年的涨幅将会更大。

Vocabulary:

real estate market : 房地产市场