The real estate market here is to face closer scrutiny following
the launch yesterday of a new campaign by municipal
authorities.
The campaign will involve 11 government departments, which are
responsible for the city's development and reform, construction,
land resources and housing, urban planning, pricing, industrial and
commercial administration, statistics, auditing, finance, taxation
and governmental administration supervision.
Ouyang Yongsheng, a spokesperson for the municipal government,
said the campaign will expose firms' tricks and misbehavior
relating to property developments, marketing and sales
activities.
He said special emphasis would be placed on whether developers
had illegally hoarded land for speculation, driven up prices by
releasing false information or by cornering a market, disobeyed the
city's overall urban planning regulations, used pricing tricks,
released for sale properties that had yet to pass official
inspections and receive approval, or acted against the State's
taxation policy to prevent speculative apartment purchases.
Yongsheng said the campaign will run for a month and that
officials would conduct thorough investigations of the city's real
estate companies.
"Property developers that are found to have used dirty tricks in
their business operation will be urged to make rectifications
within 10 days. Those who refuse to do so will be dealt with
according to the law," he said.
"The move is an inseparable part of the municipal authorities'
measures to curb the city's rising house prices," Yongsheng
said.
"The government wants to keep prices at a rational level so that
most citizens can afford to buy their own homes."
Other measures the city government has taken recently include
the expansion of land supplies by 5 sq km over the next couple of
years, an investment of 1.5 billion yuan ($194 million) to build
"economical houses" for 5,643 low-income families this year,
reclaiming unused land, streamlining procedures for housing
approval and releasing house prices on time.
Many people, especially those who have not yet bought a house,
have applauded the tough new measures.
Gao Weijie, who works in advertising, said: "House prices in
Guangzhou have surged to an unbearable high. I hope rather than
wish that the government's series of measures is effective in
bringing them down or at least keeping the growth rate
reasonable."
In February, the average price of an apartment in Guangzhou was
7,729 yuan ($1,000) per sq m, compared with 3,888 yuan ($498) per
sq m in 2003.
Han Shitong, an analyst with the Guangzhou Real Estate
Association, said that the measures would at least cultivate
potential house buyers' wait-and-see attitude.
"If the measures are implemented by the book, the price should
definitely drop," Han said.
(China Daily April 10, 2007)