China's new macro measures are expected to curb soaring house
prices and the increasing amount of empty commercial buildings.
A State Council meeting last Wednesday announced six major
policies for China's real estate market, emphasizing that tight
tax, loan and land regulations would be put in place to restructure
the real estate industry.
The new measures show a shift in the government's policy, said
Dong Fan, dean of the real estate market researching center of
Beijing Normal University. He added that the new measures prove
that control of market demand and the increase of supply should be
included in the government's macro-control policy.
The measures are designed to adjust the housing supply structure
to provide less expensive apartments for low-income families.
The vacant area of China's commercial buildings had surged 18.9
percent from last year to 122 million square meters by the end of
April this year, the National Bureau of Statistics reports.
The bureau said the vacant commercial residential buildings
amounts to 69.21 million square meters, up 15.9 percent from the
same period a year earlier.
Since China adopted macro-control over the real estate market
last year, the increasing investment in the sector and price hikes
were reined in initially. But a survey conducted by the Ministry of
Construction showed that in the first months of 2006 the problems
had not been solved, illustrated by rapid price rises in big
cities, bad supply structure and vague market rules, it said.
Insiders said the effectiveness of the six new measures depends
on whether the local government will implement them fully. Local
governments like Beijing and Shanghai are working out measures
using the six policies as their guide.
The public reacted quickly to the new measures. An on-line
survey showed that 77.48 percent would postpone their house-buying
plans until the market is clearer.
(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2006)