China has pledged to empower local governments with city-specific measures to clear housing gluts and optimise supply next year, ramping up efforts to stabilise a real estate market that remains a persistent drag on the world’s second-largest economy. “Municipal governments should fully utilise their autonomy in regulating the property market, adjusting and optimising policies as appropriate,” said Ni Hong, the minister of housing and urban-rural development, at a two-day work conference that...