China’s Li Faces Home Prices Challenge After Wen’s Failure

China’s new leaders are inheriting a challenge that stymied the outgoing government: deflating a bubble in big-city home prices without damping economic growth.

In one of its final acts before the leadership change, China’s State Council on March 1 imposed tough new measures intended to cool the market, a step that sent property stocks tumbling. While curbs initiated last year had some success, prices resumed climbing in the second half as the central bank cut interest rates to reverse an economic slowdown.