Preferential real estate policies may be canceled

• Source: Global Times
• [08:22 November 13 2009]
• Comments

By Zhao Qian

As second-hand home sales continue to go through the roof, a government official has announced that policies bolstering the real estate industry will be gradually rolled back.

The preferential real estate policies will be phased out next year, by which time home prices should have declined, Nie Meisheng, the director of the Chamber of Real Estate of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC), said at the real estate policies trend forum held by China Realty Research Center (CRRC) and sohu.com Wednesday.

"But the preferential policies will not be cancelled in cities all over the country at the same time," Nie said, "since prices in some areas like Jilin Province are still falling."

The government released policies to encourage sales growth at the end of last year. Home sales were given a boost through tax exemptions and interest discounts for loans.

"The second hand sales volume increased rapidly as fears grew that the preferential policies would be cancelled," Hu Jinghui, deputy-general manager of 5i5j, a real estate agency, said at the same forum.

"The second-hand sales volume in Beijing this November will possibly reach a record high," Hu predicted.

"And the supervisor of Beijing has phoned us to tell the buyers not to get anxious because the decision on policy change will come down by the end of this month at the latest," Hu disclosed.

The second-hand home sales volume in Beijing this year reached a record high of 250,000, according to a report released by the CRRC at the forum.