The property market in Beijing is freezing up after the city government stepped up control measures on home purchases since March 17. Sales in the primary and secondary residential markets in the city have slumped while apartments built on commercial and office land, an alternative product, also faced a bleak future. As of March 16, just 1,106 units of new private homes were sold this month, down 66% from a month earlier and 79% year-on-year, according to real estate consultancy Yahao. Sales of apartments built on commercial and office land also dried up. From a peak of 2,265 units sold in the week before the tightening, only 62 units were sold in the first week after, falling further to 53 and then 31 in subsequent weeks. The average selling price also eased to CNY34,828 per square meter from CNY47,727 during the period. Yahao’s Deputy General Manager Gao Shan said the price caps imposed on primary homes also dampened developers’ willingness to sell new projects, further squeezing supply in the market. So far this month, only two projects were released for sale while most others were put on hold as the regulated prices made it virtually impossible for developers to generate any profits. A price cap of CNY150,000 per sq m has also been placed on the second-hand market across the city, the South China Morning Post reports.

Home prices in major cities continued to stabilize as China’s latest restrictive measures took effect. Of the 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed, 24 saw prices rise slower year-on-year in March, up from 20 in February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. The average new home prices rose slower year-on-year in all 15 first-tier and large second-tier cities. The price hikes were between 0.2 and 0.6 percentage points slower than those in February. On a monthly basis, prices in six of the 15 cities declined from February, while another six saw price hikes of below 0.5%. “March is traditionally a hot sales season, but new home prices in 15 first and second-tier cities rose slower year-on-year under targeted and differentiated measures to curb home prices in various cities,” said Liu Jianwei, NBS Senior Statistician. New home prices in Beijing rose 0.4% month-on-month in March, while Shanghai’s fell 0.1% and Shenzhen’s slid 0.3%. Since October, the Chinese government has implemented a slew of measures to cool runaway housing prices, including restrictions on home purchases and increased minimum downpayment requirements. The property market picked up pace in February, however, which has led to the biggest wave of tightening of home purchase and lending rules since mid-March, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Speakers at the Penn Wharton China summit in Pennsylvania, attended by 1,500 students mainly from China, called on Chinese students in the U.S. to go back to China after their studies because Chinese companies needed their talents. Speakers included the Chinese Consul in New York and former Ambassador to Belgium, Mrs. Zhang Qiyue. “We’re going through crucial changes every day and every minute,” Zhang said. “We’re trying to promote political, economic, cultural, social, and ecological development all at the same time. These transformations will come with great opportunities.” The Penn Wharton summit participants cited the importance of creative industries in the effort to reach the government’s development goals. Chinese investment in U.S. entertainment companies, including Dalian Wanda Group’s USD3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment last year, underscores this demand. “The biggest crisis we have in China’s arts and entertainment industry is the lack of skills,” said Zhang Jizhong, Producer of a number of television series for state broadcaster CCTV. More than 328,000 students from China were registered at U.S. colleges and universities in 2016, up from 62,582 a decade earlier, according to the New York-based Institute of International Education.

China launched its first unmanned cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, into space, a crucial step for the country in building a space station by around 2022. Tianzhou-1 was launched into space by a Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province. The cargo ship docked with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab to provide fuel and other supplies, and conduct space experiments. Without a cargo transport system, China’s future space station would run out of power and basic necessities. The successful Tianzhou-1 docking made China the third country after Russia and the United States to master the technique of refueling in space. The Tianzhou-1 can carry over 6 tons of supplies, exceeding the loading capacity of Russian cargo ships in active service. Tianzhou-1 will enable three astronauts to stay in the future space station for 180 days.

Some analysts say this May is a good time to sell Chinese A-shares, as an anti-corruption storm is brewing in the financial sector, which has already jarred investors’ nerves and sparked panic capital flight from speculative stocks. “The situation is getting tense,” said Yan Kaiwen, Equity Analyst at China Fortune Securities. “The most important thing is that regulators are tightening the screws.” “We will resolutely clamp down on any attempt at disturbing the market order and never relent in our fight,” said Liu Shiyu, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Xun Yugen, Chief Strategist for Haitong Securities, advised A-share investors to “sell in May”. “Beware of a cold spell in later spring,” he said, citing concerns on the “policy side”. De-leveraging is the priority of Chinese authorities in 2017, but it will cause a liquidity squeeze in financial markets and a spike in interest rates, Xun said. More than a dozen stocks plummeted recently without any major news, including Ping An Insurance, Industrial Bank, Jiangsu Xiuqiang, and Guangdong Super Telecom. “The ‘flash crashes’ in these stocks’ prices suggest money has started to escape without considering the cost,” Yan said. “I think they have noticed the risks and reacted early.” Their has also been excessive speculation related to the newly established Xiongan New Area near Beijing. Xun from Haitong Securities also suggested investors keep a close eye on the U.S. President’s three major policies on immigration, income tax cuts, and border tax, which could “further complicate trade frictions between China and the U.S.,” the South China Morning Post reports.