The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has urged local governments to lift building standards in their jurisdictions and phase out the practice by developers of selling 'bare shell' flats.
About 50 per cent of all new flats on the mainland are bare shell units, though the percentage may vary between cities and projects, according to Michael Choi Ngai-min, the chairman of property agency and consultancy Land Power International.
That means the units are often offered for sale without toilets or washbasins, and with untiled floors and unpainted walls.
To raise the quality of the country's housing stock, the ministry issued a circular last month urging local governments to introduce rules and policies designed to gradually stop the sale of such unfinished units.
'It is a measure aimed at improving building quality in line with the long-term goal of the government and also in line with the stage of development of China's property market,' said Lee Hing-yin, the director for research and consultancy for east China at Colliers International.
Anton Eilers, the executive director for CB Richard Ellis residential in China, said: 'Buyers are raising their expectations and beginning to insist on improved building quality. They also want their flats ready for occupation as soon as possible.