Over the past few months, China's central bank has taken a number of precautionary measures to curb the risks of a housing bubble. In an e-mail interview, Eurasia Group associate Nicholas Consonery explains what China's rising housing market could mean for Chinese and international stability.
WPR: What geographic and demographic sectors are most affected by China's rising housing market?
Consonery: Though the government's official measurements have shown rapidly rising housing prices across China's 70 largest cities since last year, in reality this growth has been regionally skewed toward major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. An extreme example: In March, average residential sale prices in Beijing city increased by 60 percent year-on-year -- data that some have argued was the main reason the government took a more aggressive policy stance on real estate in April.