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Beijing orders more cities to restrict property purchasing

Published: 2011-01-24    Views:61 reads

Beijing is set to order China's second and third-tier cities sell only one homes to buyers, in an expanded effort to curtail housing hoarding and profiteering and rein in steep rises in property prices.

A top official from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development was reported as saying that cities including Qidao, in East China's Shandong province, Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, and Nanning, in southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will be included in the government's new plan to curb property bubbles from growing in the country.

The capital city of Beijing was the first city to adopt the limits in April 2010. The rules forbid local families from buying more than one apartment. Later, Shanghai; Tianjin; Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing; Xiamen copied Beijing's model to allow only one home purchasing for their residents.

Experts said the expanded limits are intended to cool overheating housing prices in second- and third-tier cities.
By the end of November, big real estate developers had reserved about 2.44 trillion square meters in second- and third-tier cities, indicating booming investment enthusiasm in the new year.

Some local governments will also experiment with property taxes to cool the red-hot property market and reduce the local economies' over-reliance on land transfer proceeds. Chongqing and Shanghai are among the first to implement the tax trials. Insiders said Shenzhen will likely become the third city to levy the property tax.

By People's Daily Online
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7269847.html