Residents who intend to purchase apartments have been advised to wait for three years when the property prices are expected to drop, according to a senior official reported by the Information Times yesterday.

Some 826 apartments were purchased in Guangzhou during the May Day holidays, the Times said, but property prices remained very high during that period. Many people complained that the average price of 5,976 yuan (US$746) per square meter was too high for the ordinary residents.

Lin Haokun, chief of the Guangdong Provincial Land and Resources Department, said in a phone-in radio program in Guangzhou Tuesday that the property industry in the province was over-heated. The government has been working on some measures to cool down the market and discourage excessive investment, he said.

Lin dismissed rumors that Guangdong Province was suffering a land shortage, saying that the province had ample land for real estate development. Land supply in the province increased 12 percent this year, according to Lin.

Editor: Yan