China’s house-price index dropped to 4.3% in September from 9.2% in August amid attempts by central and local governments to dampen the red-hot sector with purchasing restrictions in a number of cities as fears mount about the huge debt in China. Despite the early signs of cooling, analysts are skeptical about the government actions. “The most powerful property control is credit tightening, which we haven’t seen,” UBS economist Wang Tao said. “The purchase restrictions currently imposed can still be bypassed.”
