The head of Soho China, one of the mainland’s biggest commercial property developers, said on Thursday that she expected Beijing to announce further measures to loosen its tight control of the property market to avoid a slump.

“The property market is very important to China. It accounts for 10 per cent of GDP and affects many other industries such as banks,” said Zhang Xin, chief executive. “I don’t think the government will want to see a hard landing.”