Shenzhen needs to build more affordable housing in an effort to attract and retain talents amid skyrocketing home prices, a member of Shenzhen Committee of The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said.

Housing is one of the most important elements in deciding a city’s attractiveness to talents, said Xu Jinguang, who is also president of Shenzhen IMT Industry Group Co Ltd.

“The spiraling housing prices in Shenzhen are expected to undermine its attractiveness and lead to the loss of a number of talents,” he told China Daily on the sidelines of the annual conference of the city’s top political advisory body, which kicks off on Friday.

Xu proposes that the Shenzhen government cooperate with governments of its surrounding cities like Dongguan, Guizhou to build more affording housing there in order to ease the pressure for talents.

New residential home prices in Shenzhen surged 37.2 percent year-on-year to an average of 32,898 yuan per square meter in 2015, according to official statistics. Last month, prices of new residential homes in the city soared to 42,476 yuan per square meter.