(Yicai Global) Jan. 30 -- The Beijing government has cancelled the licenses of, closed, and shut down over 1,000 realty agencies since its implementation of a new housing pricepolicy, said Xu Jianyun, director of the Beijing's housing and urban-rural development agency.

Its touch stance on the law enforcement on real estate agencies is here to stay this year, with the establishment of credit files for agents and practitioners, Beijing Evening News reported Jan. 29. The new policy on housing market regulation that took effect last March 17 seeks to check rising housing prices. Over 500 intermediaries have had their registrations canceled, 300-plus physical stores have shut, and more than 240 agencies have voluntarily wound down for a total of over 1,000 outfits, Xu said.

"Adhering to the philosophy of 'homes are for residential use, not speculation' in 2018, we will not waver in our regulatory measures and focuses to strive to sustain the stable operation of the housing market," Xu said. "On the one hand, we need to incorporate land sold into the supply as soon as possible and complete this year's housing land supply plan with relevant authorities and district governments. On the other hand, efforts must go to implementing the Administrative Measures for Housing Rental, providing new leasing units, regulating lease relationships, improving the home-lease supervisory mechanism, and instituting leasing empowerment to stabilize market expectations and promote stable operation of the real estate market," he added.

Beijing has achieved good results by implementing the new policy for almost one year. The average price for first-hand housing units stood at CNY37,800 (USD6,000) per square meter in December, down 1 percent from the same period in 2016, while second-hand homes were CNY59,100 per square meter, down 1.2 percent from December 2016, Xu noted.