BEIJING - CHINESE President Hu Jintao has vowed 'forceful measures' to curb rising food prices and address a booming real estate market that has seen property prices sky-rocket, state press said on Tuesday.

'The central government attaches great importance to commodity prices and has made it an important task to stabilise them,' China Central Television quoted Mr Hu as saying during a New Year's Eve visit to the northern port city of Tianjin.

'A series of forceful measures have been taken and will continue to be taken to ensure the normal life of the masses.'

The spike was propelled by an 18.2-per cent rise in food prices. Pork, which forms the core of most Chinese diets, was up by a staggering 56 per cent.

He also vowed to curb rising housing prices to help low-income families, and to provide them with better health care benefits, two other top concerns of ordinary Chinese.

'The (Communist) Party and government are very much concerned about the housing problem of the low-income masses,' Mr Hu said. 'The central government has made arrangements to speed up the low-rent housing system, improve the affordable housing system, and ease the housing difficulties of urban low-income families.'

The privatisation of housing in China over the last two decades has led to a booming real estate market that has left homes unaffordable to not only low-income earners, but also to many ordinary working families.

Official figures show that property prices in 70 Chinese cities rose 9.5 per cent year-on-year in October, up 0.6 percentage points from September, with prices in the eastern metropolis of Shanghai up 7.9 per cent. -- AFP