Property conundrum to test government's resolve (2)

CONUNDRUM

NPC deputies and members of the Chinese People's Political and Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the country's political advisory body, are looking to the State Council, China's Cabinet, and other government departments to meet housing demand.

The government's conundrum lies in finding a macro-management solution that will keep housing prices from rising too rapidly, while unyielding housing demand from new home buyers and limited investment channels elsewhere in the financial market both drive up housing prices.

Amid the recent exposure of corrupt officials who have illegally accumulated properties as many Chinese tighten their belts to pay their mortgages or struggle to make ends meet in run-down apartments, public sentiment regarding the country's real estate macro-management work is weak.

In one notorious case, Gong Aiai, former deputy head of the Shenmu County Rural Commercial Bank in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, was detained for having accumulated more than 20 properties worth an estimated 1 billion yuan (159 million U.S. dollars) in Beijing using fake IDs and aliases.

At the ongoing CPPCC session, CPPCC National Committee member Hao Zhensheng, director of the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, urged the government to improve housing information transparency.

Also at the session, the Jiu San Society, a non-Communist political party with more than 132,000 members, submitted a proposal on toughening housing market regulation.

"If the government fails to stay on top of the changing supply-demand situations and vacancy rates, it will be difficult to accurately squeeze out speculative demand and effectively macro-manage the housing market," reads the proposal.

Formally founded in Chongqing on May 4, 1946, the Jiu San Society largely consists of senior and leading intellectuals in the fields of science and technology.

"Without a nationally-connected and transparent housing information system, curbing housing speculation and broadening the property tax will be empty talk," said Guo Yue, the head of the administration and discussion of state affairs department of the Jiu San Society.

CPPCC National Committee member Jia Kang, director of the Institute for Fiscal Science Research under the Ministry of Finance, dismissed notions that technical barriers having hindered the construction of such an information system.

"The real obstacles come from government departments and local governments that intend to use isolated systems to protect regional interests. China's pending reform measures will break down such obstacles put up by those with vested interests," said Jia.