Residents question wisdom of investment
At least 11 cities and three provinces rolled out measures detailing the further reining in of property market growth after this year's two sessions, China's key annual legislative and advisory meetings, which concluded in Beijing on March 20, domestic news site thepaper.cn reported Monday.
The new measures rolled out by different local cities include a lottery system to decide who has buying rights, preferential treatment for first-time buyers and strict penalties for those who present false documentation, in addition to normal sales measures and purchasing restrictions.
In just a dozen days since the two sessions wrapped up, 11 local cities, including Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Hanghzou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province and Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, issued more property restrictions. South China's Hainan Province, East China's Shandong Province and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have followed suit.
On Saturday, housing and urban-rural development authorities in Hainan issued a circular stipulating that anyone who presents falsified documentation when buying residential property will be barred from buying a home for five years.
The circular further stated that citizens from other provinces can purchase only one apartment in Hainan and that properties in the four local cities inside the island's ecological protection zones are for sale only to local residents.
One of the people affected by Hainan's new policy is a woman surnamed Zhang, in her 60s. Zhang, who did not want to give her full name, is in the middle of a property transaction in Dongfang, a small city about one hour by train from the tourist resort of Sanya, Hainan. Her initial reaction, she said, was to halt the purchase.
"We called a family meeting, because we believe if the apartment can't be sold for five years, it will decrease in value [as an investment]," Zhang, a native of Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, told the Global Times on Monday.
"After we talked it over, we decided to go ahead, as general restrictions across cities in Hainan mean apartments are in short supply," Zhang said.
There are different restrictions across localities, which relate to variations in local property prices and supply, thepaper.cn reported.
Experts said the measures show the property market will continue to face tightened policies throughout the second quarter.
