Beijing acts to boost property sector
18-12-2008
China has announced new measures to boost the flagging domestic property market. The authorities are planning to lower taxes and ease ownership rules. A sales tax previously imposed on homeowners, who sell their property within five years of buying it, will now be waived for those who keep their homes for just three years, according to the newly revised regulations. The State Council also said the tax would in future be levied only on the profit from sale, instead of the entire sale price. Authorities have also eased ownership rules to allow people with smaller-than-average apartments to buy a second flat at a preferential lending rate previously offered to first-time buyers. And lenders have been urged to increase loans to developers of low-priced housing. China is said to be facing a major shortage of apartments, both in urban and rural areas, and residential housing prices have dropped some 20 percent so far this year.
