China is expected to announce new measures to fix its property crisis, spur growth

abcnews.go.com:

China is expected to announce fresh measures to reinvigorate its ailing property industry after the latest data showed housing prices slumped in April

Housing prices in China slumped in the first four months of the year, although factory output rose nearly 7%, according to data released Friday, as the country prepares to announce fresh measures to reinvigorate its ailing property industry.

Officials of the National Bureau of Statistics acknowledged that domestic demand — spending by consumers and businesses — remained “insufficient” and said the government was considering further ways to revitalize the property industry after housing prices sank 9.8% in January-April from a year earlier.

Liu Aihua, spokesperson for the bureau, said that in keeping with policies set by the Communist Party leadership, there was a need to find ways to balance supply and demand, meet public expectations for high-quality housing and “seize the opportunity to build a new model of high-quality development of the real estate sector.”

The State Council, China's Cabinet, said it would hold a news conference later Friday focusing on the property industry.

China’s housing market has slumped after a crackdown on excessive borrowing by property developers several years ago, dragging along a wide range of other businesses and slowing growth in the world’s No. 2 economy.

Dozens of developers, whose legions of high-rise apartments have transformed urban landscapes across China, have defaulted on their debts.

The government has cut interest rates and freed up billions of dollars of financing to help financially struggling developers deliver housing already promised and paid for.

Some local governments are buying apartments that are going unsold due