Cranes are seen at a construction site of a housing complex in Beijing. Photo: VCG

China's top housing regulator vowed on Thursday to tackle risks stemming from overdue delivery of properties by some developers in a bid to maintain the stability of the property market, and to continue to adhere to the principle that "housing is for living, not for speculation."

The primary goal is to "guarantee the delivery of properties, people's livelihoods and stability" by abiding by the rule of law and market forces, and heightened oversight of real estate developers and local governments, Ni Hong, vice minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, told a press conference Thursday.

In 2022, the ministry will continue to abide by the principle that "housing is for living, not for speculation," and maintain consistent and stable housing policies, while trying to meet people's basic demand for homes, the official said.

China's property market maintained stable development last year, marked by record high sales of commercial residential buildings, decreasing housing prices and growth of investment in property development.

The sale for residential buildings reached 1.565 billion square meters in 2021, up 1.1 percent year-on-year, and the highest level in years, data from the ministry showed.

Rises in home prices eased last year. Among 70 large and medium-sized cities, prices of new and secondhand homes rose by 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively, which represented drops of 1.7 and 1.1 percentage points from 2020.

Property development investment reached 14.8 trillion yuan ($2.34 trillion) last year, up 4.4 percent year-on-year. Investment in residential buildings rose by 6.4 percent, 1.5 percentage points higher than overall fixed-asset investment.

China's demand for housing has huge growth potential as the nation is still in the process of rapid urbanization, with the total population and the number of families in cities and towns still increasing, Wang Menghui, head of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ministry, told the same briefing.

"We have more than 11 million newly employed people in cities and towns every year, and their inelastic demand for homes is strong," Wang said.

China will step up its supply of affordable rental housing this year, setting a target of offering 2.4 million units, a jump from last year, Wang said.

In 2021, China offered 942,000 units of affordable rental housing across 40 cities with large floating populations, a move that was intended to help address the housing difficulties of 3 million new arrivals to those cities.

China will support the property market to better cater to the reasonable demand of home buyers and adopt city-specific policies to boost the virtuous cycle and healthy development of the sector, the annual Central Economic Work Conference said in December.

Thursday's briefing came as some developers are moving to tackle debt and delivery issues.

Debt-stricken Chinese developer Evergrande aimed to fully resume construction work across China with a goal of delivering 600,000 apartments in 2022, company chairman Hui Ka Yan said in early February in an internal meeting.

The Guangzhou-based developer, faced with more than $300 billion in liabilities, has been selling assets since last year to pay banks, suppliers, onshore bondholders and international investors.