Chinese urban residents showed a weakened inclination to consume and buy house, the latest survey by the People's Bank of China showed on Monday.

Only 29.5 percent of the people surveyed held that "more consumption, including consumption by borrowing, is cost-efficient," down 0.3 percentage points over the previous quarter and 1 percent year on year, according to the survey.

The survey indicated that 19.2 percent of respondents said they plan to "buy houses" in next three months, down 0.4 percentage points over the previous quarter and 2 percentage points year on year.

China's real estate market is witnessing a sluggish price hike due to macro-control policies. The housing price in Shanghai is dropping.

Among the seven cities surveyed, the ratio of people who plan to buy houses in the next three months dropped most in Wuhan, where the ratio decreased 5.5 percentage points over the previous quarter. That in Beijing dropped 2 percentage points, and in Shanghai it went up 3.7 percentage points, but was still in the lowest in a year or more.

The survey also showed that 74.9 percent of respondents were "without loans" in the fourth quarter, up 2.4 percentage points over the previous quarter and 2.7 percentage points year on year. The ratio of those with loans dropped to the bottom in three years.

The bank held that the weakened housing purchase inclination is mainly due to the contained speculative demand of houses resulting from the macro-control policy and the interest hike of personal consumption loans.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2005)