Real Estate

The country will continue its tightening policies for the property sector, even as housing prices in June saw the first monthly fall since February last year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Monday.

In a statement on its website, the ministry said it will strictly apply different mortgage policies and curb speculative purchases, as well as increase the supply of affordable homes and low-rent housing.

Property prices in 70 major cities nationwide edged down 0.1 percent month-on-month in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. The year-on-year increase in prices slowed to 11.4 percent last month, compared with 12.4 percent in May and 12.8 percent in April.

The figures indicate that government measures to cool down the sizzling property sector have kicked in, analysts said.

"Generally speaking, this round of tightening measures has met targets, as evidenced by falling property sales, stabilized prices and people's expectations of price trends," said Qin Hong, the ministry's deputy research head.

Real estate is a hot topic in China nowadays - murder, cheat, betray, greedy, you can find this industry is the most profitable and bloody industry in China. Every news about this industry continues testing the endurance, patience, and faith of Chinese people.

Now on the Beijing Real Estate Exhibition, about 30 human right activists convert it into a Human Right Show.

The Ministry of Land and Resources said it will survey the cost structure of residential property as part of its annual investigation of land prices.

The survey covers 35 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and the result is due on July 15.

The National Bureau of Statistics conducted a survey of the amount spent on commercial residential property development in 40 cities last year, but has not disclosed the result.

The All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce said last year that the land prices accounted for 58.2 percent of property development cost. But the ministry said in its report that land prices accounted for 23.2 percent on average, according to a survey report in June 2009 for over 600 property projects.

China will collect house- and land-price appreciation taxes more "strictly" after the government released more-detailed tax rules Wednesday, the Shanghai Securities News reported Thursday.

The new State Administration of Taxation circular signals more robust tax-collection after four years of relaxed tax-rules imposition, the daily said.

The circular clarified ways to calculate land value and the appreciation of house- and land-prices.