China's nationwide housing information network project, which enables policymakers to find out the number of properties owned by individuals, is not moving forward although its deadline for including information from 500 cities is approaching, the Securities Daily reported Monday.

Qi Ji, vice-minister at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), said in the two sessions earlier this year that the housing information network for 500 cities would be finished by the end of June.

However, according to the report, the network's expansion has been stagnant since MOHURD completed the networks for 40 major cities in June of 2012.

Media reported that only 60 cities have joined the housing information network system so far.

It is costly for local governments to build such a network without any short-term benefits, said Ma Qingbin, a research fellow from the China Center for International Economic Exchange, noting that it is also difficult to balance the relationship between public interests and individual interests, according to the report.

The problem is not technical, but has arisen from resistance by vested interest groups, the Beijing Evening News reported on Monday, citing an insider who said that resistance was the reason the housing information network stalled when it expanded to local provinces and cities.

Media previously reported that local governments and officials who owned many properties were afraid of the completion of the network and the sharing of housing information nationwide, which forced them to sell some of their properties.

Global Times