Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan has pledged to stabilize soaring
property prices by putting up more real estate for sale,
standardizing the market, and offering more and better houses to
low-income families.
Speaking at a recent State Council meeting on Beijing's property
market, Zeng said: "The Beijing municipal government should channel
more funds into low-rent housing schemes and standardize the
construction, sale and distribution of low-cost affordable
houses."
By the end of last year, of 657 cities 512 had set up a low-rent
housing scheme, and the Ministry of Construction ordered that it be
extended to the rest of the country this year.
The meeting emphasized a combination of market mechanisms and
governmental regulations, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
It's the government's responsibility to solve the basic housing
problem of the low-income group, participants said.
The central government has taken additional measures to settle
down the booming property market. They include an official mandate
to build more small and medium-sized houses and strengthened
efforts to collect land appreciation tax from developers.
Though the meeting was told that overall, the housing market had
cooled down, with speculation being curbed, property prices in some
major cities were still rising and the supply of moderately sized
houses was far from enough.
Last month, housing prices in 70 large and medium cities rose
5.6 percent compared to last year, according to the National
Development and Reform Commission, with those in Beijing jumping
9.9 percent.
Zeng said the government would continue regulating the property
market and crack down on those involved in hoarding, bidding up
housing prices, and committing contract frauds. He stressed that
the secondary housing and rent markets must be developed to
stabilize housing prices.
Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan said last month the city would
begin building low-rent houses with a total floor space of 300,000
square meters this year, with the ultimate goal of 10 million
square meters in the next three years.
(China Daily February 26, 2007)
