The government will get tough on those involved in illegal
activities and speculation to cool the country's booming property
market, a leading construction official said yesterday.
"We are in the middle of a campaign to regulate the property
market and will crack down hard on anyone engaged in illegitimate
activities such as stockpiling land and bidding up prices," Qi Ji,
vice-minister of construction said at a press conference.
"We will expose and punish unscrupulous developers and do
everything we can to prevent price hikes driven by non-market
factors," he said.
Qi said the government will also introduce differentiated tax
and credit policies to deter people from buying property for
investment purposes and control the demand for large
apartments.
Citing Beijing as an example, Qi said one of the key factors
behind the skyrocketing prices was the influx of buyers from
outside the city.
"Figures show more than a third of the commodity houses in
Beijing were bought by people from outside the city," he said.
And the figure is more than 50 percent for high-end properties
in central areas, he said.
The situation has led to an imbalance between supply and demand
in these areas and prices are soaring, Qi said.
House prices in the capital showed a year-on-year increase of
11.6 percent last month, the highest this year.
Qi said governments must put greater emphasis on the development
of low and middle-priced housing and small to medium-sized
apartments to stabilize housing prices.
In an effort to help ease the housing problems of low-income
families in urban areas, the State Council recently rolled out a
series of policies including the establishment of a low-rent
system, the construction of more affordable homes and a large-scale
program to renovate shantytowns.
Qi said 10 million low-income families nationwide have housing
problems, most concerning a lack of living space of less than 10 sq
m per person.
"They cannot afford houses on the open market, which is why
governments must help them," he said.
(China Daily August 31, 2007)
