Beijing Real Estate Association Admits There’s A ‘Big Bubble’, Supports New Measure To Ban Home Buying
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Beijing on Friday announced a ban on families buying more than one home, in addition to other measures aimed at cooling the city’s hot property market.
As of Friday, "one family can only buy one new apartment in the city for the time being," the municipal government said in a statement. The government also ordered the implementation of central government policies that ban mortgages for purchases of a third or third-plus home.
It also instigated a central government ban on mortgages to non-local residents who cannot provide more than one year of tax returns or proof of social security payments in Beijing. The statement called for "resolutely curbing unreasonable housing demand." It ordered the implementation of measures earlier unveiled by the State Council on second-home purchases.
One of these days, property market tightening measures are going to hit the market hard. It’s fat chance that these regulatory efforts can perfectly balance out the market so that prices simply stop rising and all is calm.
The latest measures, more harsh than those released by the State Council, are aimed clearly at curbing speculation and promoting healthy and stable development of the property sector, Chen Zhi, deputy secretary-general of Beijing Real Estate Association, told Xinhua.
Speculation is the main reason behind high home prices in Beijing, Chen said.
"There exists a rather big bubble in the city’s real estate market. Housing has become more unaffordable for many," he added.
So even the Beijing real estate association is worrying about a bubble. At least give them some credit here. Did America’s National Association of Realtors (NAR) ever caution that the U.S. housing market has a ‘big bubble’? If they did, we don’t recall it.
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See also: Beijing city limits home-buyers to one new apartment: Media
BEIJING: The city of Beijing has issued rules limiting families to one new apartment purchase as authorities try to rein in rampant property speculation and soaring prices, state media reported Friday. More here.>>
