The Shenzhen government has retrieved more than 870,000 square
meters of unused or idle land which had been set aside for real
estate development, a move aimed at further cooling the real estate
market.
The idle land was included in 738 undeveloped plots the
municipal land resources authorities had identified by June 15,
occupying a total area of 20.26 square kilometers. The government
launched a campaign to tighten land control in May.
The government did not specify what will be done with the rest
of the vacant land. Two-thirds of the plots were approved for
residential and industrial use and 71 percent of the land was
approved before 2002.
Idle land includes land on which construction did not start one
year after the estate developer obtained land use rights or was
authorized to begin construction. It could also be considered idle
land if construction was suspended for more than one year, with
only one-third of the area used.
In a move to prevent developers from hoarding land, a practice
believed to have aggravated a land shortage, the city government
imposed a regulation in May to take back land purchased by
developers if left idle for more than two years.
The tightened rule on land use is one of the government's
measures to regulate the real estate market and slow skyrocketing
house prices.
By the end of this year the government will finish 6,000
low-rent apartments to relieve the housing problem for low-income
families.
China raised down payments for property mortgages to 40 percent
for those buying second apartments. Also, the interest rate of
mortgage loans for second apartment buyers increased to 1.1 times
the benchmark one-year lending rate.
Meanwhile, some banks in Shenzhen have suspended home loans for
preowned homes.
The local taxation authority started collecting income tax and
land value-added tax on transfers of pre-owned properties in
September.
(Shenzhen Daily November 27, 2007)