Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Chinese Mandarin - Urban property prices jump

CHINA / National

Urban property prices jump
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-15 06:14

China's urban property prices rose 5.8 percent in May from a year ago,
accelerating 0.2 percentage point over the April growth rate, the
National Development and Reform Commission reported yesterday.

Residents in Nanjing, capital of East China's Nanjing Province, walk past
a newly-constructed apartment building May 10, 2005. [newsphoto]

The monthly survey tracks the prices of residential and commercial
properties in 70 large and medium-sized cities.

Prices for new housing increased 6.1 percent last month from a year
earlier, led by growth in Dalian, Shenzhen and Hohhot. Only Shanghai and
Jinzhou in Liaoning Province reported a decline.

Shanghai new home prices fell 6.2 percent from the same month last year
and Jinzhou dropped 0.8 percent.

Second-hand housing prices across China rose 6.7 percent in May from a
year earlier, faster than the 5.8 percent rise in April. Dalian, Shenzhen
and Zhengzhou reported the biggest climbs.

Commercial property prices rose 4.4 percent last month compared with the
year before.

Gu Yunchang, vice president of the China Real Estate Housing Research
Association, said growth will slow down in coming months in reaction to
the government's latest string of regulatory measures designed to cool
the market.

On May 29, authorities announced an increase in down payments for larger
apartments and extended the period during which a property sales tax
applies.

The new policy also restricts lending to developers and levies high
penalties and even land confiscations for projects that aren't completed
within their contract periods.

The new measures haven't deterred expansion by everyone, however.
Shenzhen-based Vanke Co, the nation's largest listed developer, said last
week it will kick off 20 new projects in the Yangtze River Delta Area and
add 10 million square meters to its land bank this year.

The company also recently started sales of a villa-like apartment project
in Shanghai's Minhang District.

"The new measures will deal a heavy blow to small industry players but
may be good news for well-funded large developers," said Lina Wong, east
China managing director of Colliers International, a real estate services
firm.

CapitaLand Ltd, Southeast Asia's biggest developer, said on May 30 that
it will enter Chengdu, Sichuan Province, for the first time to build five
to seven projects in the near future. It also acquired a 60,000 square
meter residential plot in Hangzhou for US$70 million last month.

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