Phantom sell-off (5)

Obstacles to progress

"These corruption scandals could serve as warning to officials," Yin said, but he warned that officials might turn to other assets for bribery instead.

The key is to increase the penalties for corrupt officials, ensure checks on their power, and encourage public inspection and whistle-blowers, Yin noted. He also said that much depends on the new leaders' actions, rather than hollow slogans.

China had developed a network for sharing housing information for 40 major cities by mid-2012, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. However, the list of cities has not been made public yet, and there is no schedule for disclosure of information from the network, which analysts say is due to obstruction from interest groups.

The network, once connected, will allow housing authorities at all levels to know the exact housing status of individuals in their area and acquire the data needed for policymaking and implementation, which will make it easier to expose scandals.

The Economic Observer reported that a university professor in East China's Anhui Province who helped build a local housing information system is reluctant to be responsible for disclosure of officials' secrets.

Also, the whistle-blower who exposed "housing uncle" Cai Bin was removed from his post at the Guangzhou housing information authority for having disclosed private information.