(Yicai Global) Jan. 25 -- Shenzhen's real estate market leverage has significantly declined, the tide of investment in house purchases has ebbed and market risks have gone down, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily quoted Shenzhen Real Estate Research Center Director Wang Feng as saying.

Although the government's real estate control policy has had some effect on cooling the market, Shenzhen's objective in real estate control will remain unchanged and the city will not relent in its control efforts this year, Wang said yesterday.

The average price of Shenzhen's newly built commercial residential buildings dropped for 15 months in a row starting in September 2016 and has declined moderately in the past month, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

New commercial residential buildings had an average price of CNY54,300 (USD8,600) per square meter last month, marking a 12 percent decrease from September 2016. The area covered by transactions of such buildings fell 39 percent to 2.6 million square meters last year, Wang said.

The government needs to accelerate the construction of a long-term mechanism while continuing strict control to maintain the steady and healthy development of the real estate market, said Wang.

Authorities must increase rental housing areas and the supply of housing for talents to accelerate the cultivation and advancement of the rental housing market and accelerate the formation of a multilayer housing supply system, Wang said.