The decline of housing prices in Shenzhen from last year's peak has sparked fears of a monumental national housing slump.

However, the National Bureau of Statistics says that second-quarter housing prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities still rose more that 9 percent year-on-year.

From this perspective, the English-language newspaper China Daily says that there is no need for policymakers to take actions to boost housing prices. Instead, the government has a huge task to fulfill in building badly-needed affordable housing for the urban poor and other low-income citizens.

The article says that local governments have long dragged their feet at providing low-rent apartments to meet the housing demands of many low- and middle-income families. This is also one of the key reasons that the public is angry about skyrocketing prices.

The article suggests that local governments fulfill their duties to provide shelter for the urban poor so the structure of the real estate market will be significantly improved to serve as a long-term pillar industry for the Chinese economy.