HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- A senior policy adviser to China's central bank said Monday that asset bubbles were a concern for the nations' policy makers, reflecting official unease about the rapid gains in real estate prices, according to reports. Fan Gang who sits on the monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China told reporters that surging asset prices were the "the real worry" for the economy, according to a report by Dow Jones Newswires. Fan also praised recent efforts to rein in excessive liquidity as "good, timely and necessary," even while he downplayed inflation risks, saying gains in consumer prices were unlikely to be a major problem this year because of spare capacity and stable food prices.

In a separate development during the weekend, the mayor of Shanghai said the city plans to raise the minimum wage by 15% and accelerated plans to build subsidized housing.

"Too-high property prices hurt Shanghai's growth," Mayor Han Zheng was cited as saying by the Shanghai Daily at a press conference at the conclusion of the Shanghai People's Congress.

The new minimum wage will be effective from April 1, the reports cited Han as saying.

About 150,000 affordable-housing apartments will be built this year, under the accelerated plan.

Shanghai is also reportedly considering a plan to open its stock of low-rent housing to the general public, expanding which has traditionally been a privilege limited to government workers