Beijing: China may set new property controls as early as this month after the central government’s inspection team returns to Beijing, the official China Securities Journal reported on Thursday.
The government has some room to issue more policies, including raising the transaction tax on existing homes and expanding a property tax trial, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information. The policies will be based on inspection results and likely be this month as the government may want to avoid the traditional property sales season in September and October, it said.
Premier Wen Jiabao has said the government will “unswervingly” continue property controls it began introducing in April 2010 to ensure housing remains affordable. China sent eight teams to 16 provinces in late July to check on the implementation of its property curbs, according to a statement on the central government’s website on July 25. The nationwide check is aimed at “firmly” restraining property speculation and consolidating results of the curbs, it said.
“The report is more of guessing and speculative; it’s very unlikely for the government to rush new property policies this month,” said Eric Zhang, a Beijing-based property analyst at China International Capital Corp., the country’s biggest investment bank. “But the central government is likely to set an accountability system with local governments on home prices.”
A gauge tracking property shares on the Shanghai Composite Index rose to the highest in a week, adding 1.3 per cent at the local close, the most among five industry groups on the benchmark.
