Chinese people's strong desire to buy their own houses has curbed consumption of other commodities, said an expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Although the government has taken measures to curb housing price rises, residents in 70 large and middle-sized cities across the country still saw a price increase of seven percent in 2007, said Li Peilin, director of the Sociology Institute under the academy.

In some big cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen, he said, the housing price has risen by more than 10 percent.

Many people had to reduce their expenditure on other commodities to buy houses earlier than they originally planned. As a result, China's consumption rate has reached new low of 36 percent of the gross domestic product last year, compared with figures in the past 10 years.