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A seal is placed on the gates of a property as the government banned new property sales in counties earmarked as part of a new special economic zone in Xiongxian, Hebei province, China. Photo: Reuters
China

In pictures: property speculators kept at bay in Xi Jinping’s ‘dream city’

Urban planning
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The central government moved quickly to ban property sales in Xiong county, Hebei province, and two other nearby counties after it announced that the dusty rural backwater had been handpicked by President Xi Jinping to be transformed into a new special economic zone.

The local authority has frozen all property transactions in the county. Photo: Reuters
A general view of newly constructed buildings in Anxin, Hebei province. Photo: AFP

Speculators were quick to descend on the area to cash in on what they hoped would be a property boom, but, as these photographs from show, they found offices of real estate agents sealed up as the authorities sought to keep the local market calm.

A worker removes the logo of a closed real estate agency. Photo: Reuters
A sculpture of Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong, is seen next to a closed sales office of a property firm. Photo: Reuters

The local authority has frozen all property transactions in the county.

While the government has made it clear that China’s new district doesn’t welcome property investors, many other details of the zone remain unknown.

An aerial view of the government quarters of Xiongxian county, Hebei province. Photo: EPA
A man stands outside a closed real estate agency after the government banned property sales in counties earmarked as part of a new special economic zone in Anxin county, Hebei province. Photo: Reuters

The new district covers the counties of Xiong, Rongcheng and Anxin and is currently a poor, rural area.

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