CHINA'S FIRST-TIER CITIES, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have witnessed a steady drop in housing inventory, after the central government issued a series of policies aimed at clearing a property glut in the country. Third- and fourth-tier cities, however, still have a long way to go in destocking their inventories. Governments at all levels are supposed to tailor their real estate policies based on local market conditions, said People's Daily on Tuesday.

Government efforts to clear the supply glut in China's property market seem to be working, at least in the first-tier cities. Over 6,000 second-hand housing transactions were completed in Beijing during the first week after Spring Festival (Feb 14 to 20), the most since 2010.

The ongoing recovery in the housing markets in first-tier cities, however, has prompted some real estate developers to look to second-tier cities, where "the flour has become more expensive than the bread" for the first time. A land plot at a recent auction in Foshan, South China's Guangdong province, came close to outstripping developed property prices in the neighborhood.