China's housing market was being driven by a "huge" demand, the country's top banking regulator has said.

"There is a huge need for Chinese people to buy their first or second home," said Liu Mingkang, the chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, in remarks made at the Boao Forum.

The blunt comments from the man responsible for overseeing bank lending and avoiding a credit blow-out suggest that China will continue to promote home ownership and will not crack down heavily on credit expansion. However, there may be more of the smaller steps already taken to curb over-aggressive lending by banks.

South China Morning Post