Agencies to crack down on corruption in property market
Eight government agencies are teaming up in a nationwide crackdown on irregularities in the property market, in renewed efforts to stamp out speculation and corruption in the booming sector.
The year-long campaign aims to check on how local governments implement Beijing's policies, a joint statement posted by the Ministry of Construction said yesterday.
From next month taskforces would be sent to investigate whether property companies are involved in illegal advertising, price manipulation, swindling and tax evasion, the statement said.
The inspectors would check all real estate projects under construction and at the pre-sale stage.
The eight agencies are the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Supervision, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Land and National Resources, Ministry of Finance, National Audit Office, State Administration of Taxation and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Provincial and municipal governments would also be required to take part in the campaign, which would run until next March.
Housing prices in major cities have soared in recent years and the central government has been struggling to rein them in.
It has become a major political issue, with affordable housing becoming beyond the reach of most ordinary citizens.
The government ordered last year that apartments smaller than 90 square metres should account for 70 per cent of all new projects.
It has also asked local government to build more subsidised housing for the poor, among other measures to ease the mounting housing crisis.
Nevertheless, macroeconomic control measures have failed to cool the market.
He Zhenyi , a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said local governments' reluctance to implement central policy was to blame for the failure.
'Local governments have often ignored the central government's directives and policies on macroeconomic controls so long as they see that a policy would have had a negative impact on the local economy.'
