Officials' ability to keep real estate prices stable and affordable will be a major criterion in deciding their performance and career prospects, a senior Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction official said yesterday.

"We should be setting up an accountability system for governments and officials soon," Shen Jianzhong, the director of the real estate department of the ministry, said at a press conference of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), which ends today.

The newly approved ministry, to replace the Ministry of Construction, is responsible for realizing China's new housing policy targeted at "ensuring everyone is sheltered".