China Issues Regulations on Secondary Housing Market

BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Construction has issued new regulations governing secondary housing market clarifying housing property rights of owners of public and government-subsidized housing.

As a part of the ministry's housing reform program, the new regulations will enable state officials and employees to go to the secondary housing market if they want to sell their home or exchange them for more spacious ones.

They have gained housing property rights "upon buying public housing at cost price," the ministry officials were quoted by today's China Daily as saying.

However, home sellers must have housing property right certificates before they can sell their homes on the secondary market.

For decades, China operated a welfare housing system under which the government allocated houses as welfare to State officials and employees. Residents had no housing property rights to such welfare houses, which were owned by their work units.

Ministry officials said that the new policies will go a long way towards creating an active housing market, stimulating housing purchases and eventually boosting growth in gross domestic product.
Xie Jiajin, director of the ministry's Department of Housing and Real Estate Industry, was quoted by the English newspaper as saying that China will continue to look to the housing sector as a new economic growth engine by speeding up housing reform and encouraging more people to purchase housing this year.
Last year, the housing sector contributed about one percent out of the 7.8 percent GDP growth.
"By clarifying the housing property issue, we are building up confidence among more and more people that the government is trying its best to shape a healthy and active secondary housing market," Xie said.
An active market also generates tens of thousands of job opportunities and gives a boost to the consumption of furniture, decorations and construction, she added. (Xinhua)