The National Bureau of Statistics has officially suggested that
the central government deprive those sinister land hoarders of
their rights to get more lands for future housing development.
The tough move advised in a latest report by the statistics
authorities came in response to some of the notorious land
stockpiling cases which were recently uncovered by local
governments in Beijing and Shenzhen, where the worst ever hikes of
commercial housing prices occurred in the past few years. The two
cities have respectively confiscated huge amount of lands that some
land developers gained years ago but have left them idled over the
years.
According to the research report, the real estate investment
around the country is now regaining the skyrocketing momentum of
2003's, which had then prompted the central government to take
drastic macro-control measures to cool it down. The report calls on
the government to take tougher means to regulate the overheated
property market.
The report advices that the land transfer system be reformed in
which investors obtain land usage rights through public bidding,
auction and listing. Real estate enterprises will be forbidden from
participating in land bidding if it is decided that they do not
have the capacity to develop their targeted land plots, or if the
land plots they already hold exceed the designated time limit.
The government is strongly advised to root out the malpractice
of developers hoarding land for illegal profits. Idling land plots
stockpiled by developers will be definitely reclaimed by the
government.
The report also suggests that instead of asking developers to
hand in full land usage transfer fees at one time, the government
should levy a land property tax on a yearly basis to prevent
property speculation in land transactions.
To date, real estate investment grew 26.9 percent in the first
quarter, 28.5 percent for the second half of the year and 30.3
percent in the third quarter. The growth rate is five percent
higher on a year-on-year basis, the report says.
(CRIENGLISH.com December 1, 2007)