China’s property prices are likely to decline by almost 20% next year and the market may go through a major period of readjustment in March or April 2011, according to a report by Beijing-based Renmin University of China. Prices will be dragged down by the government’s measures to cool the property market, which have placed constraints on developers, as well as by an adjustment of the country’s monetary policy, though the sector is not expected to suffer a “hard landing”, according to the report. The capital available to developers is forecast to contract sharply in the first quarter of next year. The situation is likely to be exacerbated by tighter financing being available, loan repayments being due and stricter restrictions on property buyers, according to Liu Yuanchun, Deputy Dean Renmin University’s School of Economics. Housing prices in 70 of the country’s large and medium-sized cities rose 0.2% in October from the preceding month, slower than the 0.5% month-on-month increase in September. The year-on-year price rise in October was 8.6%, the sixth straight month of a fall in the growth rate from a peak of 12.8% in April, the China Daily reports.