Realty developers hope in vain for the government to loosen the tightened monetary policy so they can raise prices

As was expected, the traditional "golden September and silver October", the peak sales season for the country's housing market, did not materialize this year due to the introduction of a series of regulatory measures by the government.

The Beijing branch of China Construction Bank announced in mid-October its plan to raise mortgage interest rates for first-time homebuyers to 1.05 times the benchmark rate, in a move that is expected to deal another heavy blow to the subdued domestic real estate market.