span lang="EN-US">China’s housing regulator has told five cities, including the major southern city of Guangzhou, to curb housing speculation as prices soar, the Xinhua state news agency reported last week.

span lang="EN-US">New home prices in China rose at their fastest pace in five months in February, official data shows, as red-hot demand for property in the world’s-second largest economy largely eclipsed government efforts to cool the market. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Vice Minister Ni Hong held talks with representatives from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, nearby Dongguan and the eastern cities of Hefei, Ningbo and Nantong.

span lang="EN-US">The five cities have seen prices rise fast due to spillover demand from tier-1 cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, which both imposed stringent regulations early in the year to rein in home prices.

span lang="EN-US">Ni asked the city governments to come up with initiatives to crack down on speculation. He said they should standardize the development of long-term rental housing, lower rental housing’s tax burden and provide financial support for new citizens and young people.

span lang="EN-US">Average new home prices in the 70 major Chinese cities grew 0.4% in February from a 0.3% gain in January, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.