BJ clamps down on property speculation

More from housing authorities in Beijing who are sparing no effort to bring down prices in real estate. On the one hand, they're making it harder for developers to manipulate supplies for their own profit, as well as ensuring more low cost housing is made available. On the other, they're also driving up costs for speculators who want to profit from soaring prices.

Housing authorities in China's capital plan to increase the supply of housing, with the launch of more projects to build low-cost accommodation. Figures show that over half of the city's land supply this year will be used to build low-cost housing. Last year saw construction start on 9.4 million square meters of such housing. 2.3 million square meters of building has already been completed.

Authorities also plan to crack down on developers who stockpile land by demanding they release all relevant information within 3 days of getting their pre-sale licenses.

Wang Rongwu, member of BJ Municipal Commis. of Housing & Urban-rural Dev, said, "Previously, the pre-sale permit could be granted to each individual building, and not to the entire development project. This allowed some developers to stockpile houses or delay plans for construction. But we now require developers to show their original project construction licenses and blue prints when they are applying for pre-sale permits. This should slash the volume of stockpiled land and homes." To further stabilize housing prices in Beijing, the city is putting a limit of 20 hectares on each commercial housing project. While down payment for any land purchased in the city should be at least 50 percent of the total price. Any parties found guilty of violating the rules will not be allowed to take part in land auctions in Beijing.