Policymakers have to ponder whether to expand pilot program after it fails to halt rising home prices, reports Wang Ying from Shanghai

It has been three years since China launched trials of property ownership taxes in Shanghai and Chongqing, but the goals of the duties, which include combating speculation in property market and reining in the home price rises, are far from being achieved.

It is now a thorny question for policymakers as to whether to expand the pilot program beyond the original cities, analysts said.