China's real estate market still waits for recovery

Special Report: Boao Forum For Asia
2009

Special
Report:Global Financial
Crisis

BEIJING, April 20 -- Spring is yet to come to China's
housing market, and the government should take more measures to stimulate real
estate development, said Ren Zhiqiang, President of Huayuan Group, at a breakout
session of the 2009 Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference in Hainan Province on
Friday.

China's real estate market has shown no sign of any
remarkable recovery so far. After the global financial crisis broke out, the
Chinese government worked out a 4-trillion-yuan emergency plan to boost the
domestic economy. To date, however, only some 200 billion yuan has gone to the
real estate market, and this investment is far from adequate to bring about any
radical change, said Ren Zhiqiang.

Ren Zhiqiang, President of Huayuan
Group, at a breakout session of the 2009 Boao Forum for Asia Annual
Conference in Hainan Province on April 17, 2009. (Photo:
china.org.cn)
Photo
Gallery

As the global financial crisis unfolds, China has
loosened some restrictions on the market in second-hand homes. Duties like stamp
tax and land appreciation tax have been cut down to some extent. Most banks,
however, are still taking a wait-and-see attitude because they have learnt a
serious lesson from the global financial crisis and are not confident of the
development of the domestic housing market, Shi Nengzi, a partner in Deloitte
Consulting China, pointed out.

To help the industry get through these tough times,
Ren Zhiqiang appealed to the government to launch more positive policies and
further reduce such taxes as business tax and tax on dividends.

Pan Shiyi, Chairman of SOHO China Ltd,
receives interview by journalists from Xinhua News Agency in Boao, a
scenic town in south China's Hainan Province, April 17, 2009. The Boao
Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2009 kicked off here Friday.
(Xinhua/Zhao Yingquan)
Photo Gallery

Ren's view, however, was countered by Pan Shiyi,
another real estate developer who owned many skyscrapers in Beijing's Central
Business Districts. According to Pan, the government has taken all possible
measures to support the real estate market, and now the only thing left to do is
to wait and see the results.

(Source: china.org.cn)