What might China's property market look like in 2018?

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The cooling of China’s commercial property market is partially a result of the ever stricter purchase curbs that have been implemented by the Chinese government since last year, and analysts say the market may need to expect more retrained growth in the coming months.

Property sales slowed by two percent, in October, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics

Grant Ji, head of capital markets at CBRE Northern China, said property developers are investing even more in spite of the slowdown. Land acquisition by developers in the first 10 months increased 12.9 percent year-on-year, 0.7 percent faster than that of the previous nine months.

"That’s because money has been available," said Rob Koepp, director of the Economist Corporate Network. "But once the interest rate starts rising, with a push toward more quality growth away from the fixed asset investment, there will be a significant slowdown in real estate going into the 2018."

Koepp’s firm expects some softening for the property sector in first quarter of next year, as the government guides the economy toward more balanced growth, away from traditional drivers like property investment.

Maybe it’s time for investors to alter their perspective on the real estate market.

Xi Jinping stressed again at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that houses are built for people to live in, not for speculation, and that the government will facilitate the development of a housing system that will guarantee equal rights on rental housing and make homes more affordable.

The rental sector is likely to see healthy, robust growth in coming years, Ji said. He also expects office values to surge in core cities driven by demand from high-tech companies, as the government continues to promote entrepreneurship and innovation.