The municipal government of Guangzhou, provincial capital of Guangdong in southern China, has introduced tough new measures to cool down the land for sale in China property market, after its mayor stressed that curbing soaring housing prices has become a "political issue".

"Housing prices in Guangzhou are high, yet continue to go up rapidly, which has become a major concern. Housing is now not just an economic or social problem, but rather a political issue," said Mayor Zhang Guangning at a government meeting late last month. The remarks have since been frequently quoted by the

Chinese media in stories about the national housing problem.

Analysts say Zhang's words show that Guangzhou's government now realizes that it would be "politically incorrect" if it failed to implement the central government's macroeconomic controls to curb housing prices.

The central government has imposed macroeconomic controls for the past three years with a goal of cooling down the property market. However, property markets in major cities remain defiant, hitting new highs after Beijing has toughened its stance.

Property developers are making a killing from the booming market, which macro-controls have failed to cool, according to the "Report on the Top 100 Real Estate Developers in China in 2007". The report shows that investment by the top 100 real-estate developers totaled 2.4 billion yuan (US$310.5 million) in 2006, up 43.4% year on year. The rate of growth is 4.6 percentage points higher than in the same period of 2005.

The top 100 real-estate developers reported record high sales volumes and operating revenue in 2006, with average figures reaching 2.26 billion and 2.71 billion yuan each, up 35% and 29% year on year respectively. Their net profit grew by 38.7% on average.

According to statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission, housing prices in 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities climbed 5.6% on average in January. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous month. The statistics showed prices jumped 10.2% in Shenzhen, 9.9% in Beijing, and 8.9% in Guangzhou.

In Guangzhou, the average price of housing rose from 3,888 yuan per square meter to 7,729 yuan in February, up 100%.

In China, skyrocketing housing, education and medical-care costs have become the three major sources of growing public discontent. In Guangzhou, even middle-ranking officials have begun to complain about high housing prices.