Mar 26, 2013
Translated by Li Jing

The southern coastal province of Guangdong yesterday released details of new rules aimed at reining in the pace at which housing prices are increasing. The measures were posted to the provincial government's official website yesterday.

The regulations are the first detailed measures to be released by any local government in response to "five new rules" (国五条) unveiled by the State Council ahead of this year's annual of China's parliament in March.

According to the new regulations, the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen are ordered to set a reasonable target for growth in the price of new commerical residential property in 2013.

The cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai (珠海) and Foshan (佛山) have also been told that they need to continue to strictly implement the existing restrictions that apply to the purchase of residential property.

The announcement also informed cities that their property purchase restrictions will need to be altered if they do not accord with the five new rules promulgated by the State Council.

In relation to the State Council's requirement that a 20 percent tax be levied on the capital gains that individuals make when selling properties, the notice said that regions witnessing rapid increases in housing prices should take measures to stabilize prices and strictly implement this new rule.

The Guangdong government also informed the major cities under its control that they need to establish a mechanism that allows for the rapid approval of commercial housing projects that contain units smaller than 90 square meters. Cities are also urged to speed up the construction and sale of small- and medium-sized commercial housing.

Additionally, the notice said in 2013 Guangdong Province will basically complete 116,000 units of affordable, government-subsidised housing and start construction on another 78,400 units.  

The stable-employed migrant workers who meet the conditions should be listed in the housing security project.

Huang Tao (黄韬), the general manager of  Centaline Property (中原地产), said that it is unlikely that Guangdong would introduce a property tax (房产税) in March. Huang argued that housing prices in Guangzhou hadn't got to the point where government would have to introduce a property tax in order to control prices. However, he did warn that Guangdong officials might reconsider the issue of imposing a property tax in September or October.

Links and Sources
China Securities Journal: 首个楼市调控地方细则亮相 广东剑指严格限购
Guangdong Provincial Government: 广东省人民政府办公厅转发国务院办公厅
关于继续做好房地产市场调控工作的通知
State Council: 国务院办公厅关于继续做好房地产市场调控工作的通知