The State Council of China Issued a Statement on New Policies to Limit further House Price Increases
| Date Published | 3/1/2013 |
| Author | Marja Hoek-Smit |
| Theme | |
| Country | China |
The following new policies were
announced by the State Council on March 1, 2013:
- Major
cities will have to publish an annual housing price control target in the first
quarter of every year
- Cities
where markets appear to be overheating are to increase land supply and
commodity housing, while cities where prices are falling should stimulate
demand to keep prices stable.
- Local
branches of the People’s Bank of China will increase down payment requirements
in cities where prices rise above the government’s price control target.
- Banks
should tighten mortgage restrictions on second home purchases, and buyers
without a local household registration will be barred, in general, from
purchasing more than one property.
- Banks
should not to make loans to developers that hoard land and engage in activities
aimed at inflating prices.
- Local
governments are required to boost the production of low-income housing, and
stricter measures were introduced to define what constitutes an affordable
housing project.
- The
government will continue to reform property taxes, with stricter inclusion of
the transaction tax and an extension of the trial holding tax from Shanghai and
Chongqing (to other cities), which it pledged to pursue on February 20th.
The current government appears to pursue the same policy
goal of containing rises in property prices while at the same time making sure
residential real estate investment is not stifled unnecessarily as it is such
an important part of GDP.