Four more cities issue property cooling measures

Shenzhen, Tianjin, Jinan and Hefei have become the latest batch of cities to meet a central government deadline on issuing detailed measures to cool the property market.

Tianjin said a 20 per cent capital gains tax would be imposed on second-hand property transactions in the city. However, Shenzhen, Hefei and Jinan did not mention a capital gains tax specifically.

The State Council gave local governments until yesterday to say how they would implement measures announced on March 1 to cool the property market.

All of the cities also pledged to control growth in the prices of new homes. For example, Shenzhen and Tianjin said home prices would not be able to rise faster than the growth in per capita disposable income. Bank loans should also be restricted for those who wanted to buy a second home.

The cities' decrees follow Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing in responding to the State Council's order.

Beijing and Shanghai announced plans on Saturday to put a 20 per cent capital gains tax on second-hand property deals.