I assume thats 60% on average throughout China ... which does not surprise me as I have heard first hand how some properties in big cities like Shanghai can increase by 100% in less than 12 months ... I guess it's a demand/supply thing ... there is a big population and a large amount of expats wanting to settle there ...
A lot of the properties are empty because the owners simply cannot be bothered to rent them out. They know the properties increase so much over short term, if they have other sources of income enough to sustain their everyday living then they would not bother. It's not an ideal situation because people hoarding properties are limiting the already short supply.
I heard the government is trying to implement measures to stabilise the market by limiting the amount a person can borrow if they already have a property ... only in China can a government do this, if KRudd tried to do it here, hes definitely not going to get another term in office.