Residents are being urged to report irregularities in buying or selling property as the Shenzhen Municipal Government continues its crackdown on unscrupulous property agents and developers.

The new move, announced Tuesday, came as housing prices in Shenzhen continued to surge in the first half of the year, with the price increases topping the list of 70 major Chinese cities.

The city government believes property developers and agents’ irregularities, such as stockpiling of new apartments, misleading advertisements and price rigging, have been partly to blame for the price surge.

The continued price rises have in turn fueled market speculation.

More than 10 government departments, including the development and reform, trade and industry, supervision, finance, planning, land and housing administration and taxation bureaus, have published their phone numbers in Chinese-language newspapers, urging the general public to report irregularities in the sale of new apartments and pre-owned homes.

They promise to carry out thorough investigations into developers and agents on receipt of substantial complaints.

In a separate development, the city’s land and housing administration bureau is drafting a price evaluation system to prevent home sellers from evading tax by under-declaring prices.

Personal income tax and other taxes are charged according to the price of an apartment. Many sellers sign two contracts with buyers, with the one submitted to the bureau stating a much lower price so that the payable taxes are lower.

After the price evaluation system comes into use, a home sale may be taxed according to the independently valued market price if the contract is thought to understate the price.

(Shenzhen Daily July 5, 2007)