Apr 16, 2013
Translated by Liu Jingyue
 
Eight real estate companies were fined a total of more than 10 million yuan for misleading customers, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) disclosed yesterday.      

The NDRC said the companies had violated real estate pricing regulations.

In order to place more pressure on potential buyers, the companies were said to have either delayed the date at which apartments went on to the market or withheld some apartments from the market.

The fines were issued as part of a new round of price checks that is being completed to ensure that real estate regulations issued by the State Council in 2011 are being implemented at the local level.
 
The companies that were fined were operating in Beijing, Shanxi, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Henan.   

Some of these companies were punished for deceiving customers, others were accused of hoarding units in order to tighten supply and force prices up, or failing to disclose availability and prices within the required time frame.    

For example, the Yunhewan (运河湾) project developed by the Beijing Macrolink Group (北京新华联伟业房地产有限公司) on the banks of the Grand Canal in Tongzhou District, falsely listed 24 unsold units as "sold".  

The NDRC said that this kind of behavior infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of customers and violated several laws and regulations including the Price Law (价格法) and Commercial Housing Pricing Provisions (商品房销售明码标价规定).   

Links and Sources
Beijing News: 八房企未明码标价被罚千万