Chinese President looks for measures to regulate hot property market
President Xi Jinping said China's approach to regulating its red-hot property market will include financial, fiscal, tax, land, and regulatory measures as Beijing looks to develop a long-term mechanism for an industry prone to speculation. China's home prices rose at the fastest pace on record in November. Prices are rising by more than 20 percent annually in many major cities, making housing increasingly unaffordable for the middle class. "The country should accurately understand the residential feature of housing and form a housing mechanism that serves both purchase and rental purposes and meets housing demands of a new urban population," Xi said, according to comments carried on state media Xinhua after a meeting in Beijing. China has for years mulled an annual property tax, though little progress has been made since a limited tax was implemented in Shanghai and Chongqing in 2011. In November the finance minister at the time said China was actively pushing forward reforms on property taxes.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL