BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhua) -- China's housing authorities on Monday urged local governments to put more efforts into the building of low-income housing.

The national goal for 2010 is to build 3 million apartments for low-income families, renovate 2.8 million in urban shantytown areas, and expand renovation of dilapidated houses in rural areas, an unidentified official with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) told a teleconference.

The ministry urged governments at all levels to strictly implement preferential policies in land provision, funding, tax reduction and credit support for low-income housing projects, to ensure the realization of the annual construction goals.

MOHURD also called for efforts to curb the precipitous rise of housing prices in some cities by increasing the supply of small and medium-sized houses and to rein in the speculation on rising house prices.