(Yicai Global) Nov. 26 -- Chinese citizens are increasingly investing the lion's share of their savings in real estate, driven in recent years by policies aimed at encouraging migrant workers to buy houses, according to a new research report.

The country's middle and upper classes had long been hooked on property-buying but monetization and promotion of migrant workers purchasing real estate have resulted in almost all of the relative weak-saving class' money entering the housing market, according to the 2018-2019 China Macroeconomic Report from Renmin University and Chengxin Credit Management.

The residential net saving balance fell 6.7 percent annually to around CNY24.7 trillion (USD3.6 trillion) as of September this year, after falling 6.3 percent in the year-ago period.

These changes were not due to short-term macroeconomic fluctuations but resulted from behavioral pattern changes, states the report.

Chinese policymakers continue to focus on the adjustment of the real estate market and related risks, especially fluctuating house prices in third and fourth-tier cities, the report said, suggesting a more liberal policy of funding for house construction and facility equipment installation costs, and close attention on middle-class leverage surges to ward off possible crowding out effects. Chinese authorities should also actively implement individual tax reforms to reduce burdens on the working class, the report added.