China curbs urban housing demand
BEIJING (AP) -- Foreigners in Beijing will be limited to buying
a single home for their own use under new curbs imposed amid
efforts to slow a surge in housing costs, newspapers reported
Saturday.
Foreign home-buyers in Beijing will have to prove they have lived
in China for a year for work or study, and will be barred from
renting out the property, the Beijing Morning Post and China
Daily newspapers said.
February 3, 2007
Beijing Limits Foreign Home Ownership
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:44 a.m. ET
BEIJING (AP) -- Foreigners in Beijing will be limited to buying
a single home for their own use under new curbs imposed
amid efforts to slow a surge in housing costs, newspapers
reported Saturday.
Foreign home-buyers in Beijing will have to prove they have
lived in China for a year for work or study, and will be barred
from renting out the property, the Beijing Morning Post and
China Daily newspapers said.
China's government is trying to restrain a jump in housing
prices and cool an investment boom that Chinese leaders
worry could spark inflation or a financial crisis.
Beijing has mainland China's largest population of long-term
foreign residents, including tens of thousands of Western
and Asian business people, diplomats and others. The
reports gave no indication whether other cities would impose
similar curbs.
The communist government began allowing Chinese
families to buy homes in the 1990s, and later let foreigners
buy real estate. The government still officially owns all land
in China, but buyers of apartments and houses receive
deeds valid for up to 70 years.
The government warned last July that it would restrict
foreigners' purchases in an effort to restrain prices
and ensure adequate supplies of low-cost housing.
Restrictions in the capital also apply to buyers from
Hong Kong and Macau, which are Chinese territory
but are treated as foreign economies by regulators,
according to the reports.
Spending by developers on apartments, office buildings
and other real estate projects nationwide jumped by 21.8
percent last year, according to the government.
Under a measure that took effect Thursday, developers
will pay a value-added tax of up to 60 percent on new
projects.
Chinese leaders also worry that heavy spending on real
estate, fueled by easy bank credit, could ignite inflation
or cause a debt crisis if builders of ill-conceived projects
default on their loans.
Investment from Hong Kong and other areas outside
China's mainland has poured into real estate.
Some foreign investors apparently hope to profit from
the rise of China's currency, the yuan, which would push
up the value of mainland assets in foreign currency terms.
Some projects, such as luxury villas, have been banned
outright as the government prods developers to build
more low-income housing.
[ViaNYT ]