NEW PROBLEMS IN CHINA’S HOUSING LEGISLATION(二)
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ses the price even increased for several times. On the one hand, the houses purchased by ordinary people have changed from the economically affordable housing to the high priced commercial housing, and a part of housing sales revenue has been converted to the land revenue and the taxation of the government. At the same time, the real income of ordinary people reduced, and the fiscal revenue of governments increased. The governments thus achieved more financial resources to expedite urban construction and economical development. As a result, the development of urban construction and housing construction is observable in the past years, which is similar to the situation where the “price scissors” (between industrial and agricultural products) improved the development of cities and heavy industries in the past of planned economy. On the other hand, a part of the housing sales revenue had been transformed to the exorbitant profits of real estate developers. The government attempted to collect more taxes, and the real estate developers attempted to earn more profits. In other words, the actual situation at that time was “the two wheels turn together and the housing prices skyrocketed.” Hence, the second housing reform achieved two goals: (a) arousing the enthusiasm of local governments; and (b) arousing the enthusiasm of real estate developers, which led to the quick soaring of housing prices at that time. 1 Tan Ye, .慵.窦镆匍埚芰睢谂哝 (Pseudo-Marketization Can Never Protect People’s Livelihood), 氧郯癫厍 (Southern Weekly), Mar. 5, 2008. 2012] CHINA’S HOUSING LEGISLATION 299 According to the report of China Economic Times on May 16, 2007, the Real Estate Blue Book (2007),2 issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that, during the five-year period (2001.2006), the State Council issued altogether 25 documents concerning real estate policies; during the same period, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Construction (MOC), the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Treasury Department, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), and the Central Bank (including the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange) issued almost 171 documents to target at the real estate market. Although on average 40 documents had been enacted each year, there was no sign that the soaring housing prices would stop increasing. In fact, cornering the market is the main reason why, at the time of policy adjustment, the housing price continued to increase.3 At the press conference of the promulgation of the Real Estate Blue Book (2007), Xiaoyun Zou, vice chief engineer of the China Land Surveying and Planning Institute of the Ministry of Land and Resources, pointed out that “monopoly is not only the institutional factor causing the high housing price, but also the essential reason why housing prices can increase hugely despite the adverse conditions, that is because the regulations and control policies never touched the basic element of monopoly.” “The current macro-control is still limited in certain aspects such as land provision, housing sales, supply structure, taxation and interests. These aspects virtually play no role in changing the institution itself.” He said that this situation was like a full blown tree, it would be useless to prune the tree. “The housing prices will keep increasing, if the monopoly cannot be eliminated.” C. The Third Reform The third reform is from the developer-monopolized commercial housing supply system to the governmental housing security system. On 26 July 2006, at the national video conference held by the State Council, Premier Wen Jiabao proposed that “the housing construction and consumption mode should accord with Chinese conditions,” and this conference has been seen as the commencement of the third housing reform. At the 5th session of the 10th National People’s Congress in March 2007, Premier Wen Jiabao re-emphasizes 2 Fengrui Niu, 耖.郛颌..铟.捅(尢) (Report on the Development of China’s Real Estate), no. 4, Social Sciences Academic Press (Beijing), at 4 (2007). 3 “Cornering the market” means the first level land supply has been monopolized, and the pre-sale housing system results in the real estate developers’ financial monopoly at the same time. 300 FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA [Vol. 7: 295 that “the major problems in the fields of education, medical care and public health and housing should be solved quickly,” “the government should pay special attention to address the housing problems of low income families, to increase fiscal and tax policy support, to establish the low-rent housing system, and to improve the economically affordable housing-supply system.” Moreover, the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011.2015) also specifically points out that: “China should strengthen policy adjustment in land, fiscal taxation and financial policy, and accelerate the development of housing information system, improve the operating mechanism of housing system and the policy system pursuant to China’s actual conditions, and guide reasonable housing consumption. All levels of government should take more responsibilities for the construction of security housing, accelerate the renovation of shantytowns, develop the public rent housing, and increase the housing provision for middle and low income families. Moreover, it is important to strengthen market monitoring, regulate real estate market order, refrain from speculation, and promote the healthy and stable development of the real estate industry.”4 All these instructions clearly pointed out that the then model of housing construction and consumption were not suitable for the whole China, and deny the pattern of developer-monopolized commercial housing construction and consumption. Therefore, all these instructions are extremely significant. In recent years, China has always emphasized the protection and improvement of people’s livelihood should be the starting point of accelerating the reform of economical development mode. In order to achieve this goal, the commercial housing construction and consumption system, which are monopolized by China’s real estate developers, should be governed by Chinese governments. Moreover, the housing security system is one of the most important parts of the protection and improvement of people’s livelihood. Therefore, the present issue is to improve relevant legislations as soon as possible. The Opinions of the State Council Regarding the Housing Problem of Low-Income City Families ([2007] No. 24) promulgated on August 13, 2007, and the working conference for nation-wide city housing held in Beijing on August 24.25 marks the beginning of the third housing reform and the second housing system revolution. According to China Estate News on August 13, 2007, the reform will be divided into two phases: (a) The governmental housing security system should be further improved; (b) the housing industry should be developed moderately and healthily. At the Legislative Planning Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 4 耖挽耖溏.橥黏镆.谂..掬..铟鸠洙欤.玳掖..钴孙. (The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Proposal for the 12th Five-Year Plan on the National Economic and Social Development of China), 煅谂祉. (People’s Daily), Oct. 28, 2010. 2012] CHINA’S HOUSING LEGISLATION 301 National People’s Congress in October 2008, the Housing Security Law has been proposed to be listed as one of the mature drafts. In May 2009, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China (MOHURD) called up the representatives of relevant central ministries and the local government to draft the Housing Security Law. In November 2010, the MOHURD indicated that the draft of the Housing Security Law has been listed in the official legislative plan of the 11th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the State Council’s Legislative Affairs Committee in 2010 and the document of different suggestions for the Housing Security Law has also been drafted. According to the Notification Regarding the Submission of the Urban-Town Protective Housing Construction Projects, which was issued by the MOHURD, the amount of low income housing will increase to ten million in 2011. In addition, the investment for low income housing will exceed RMB 1,000 billion, which is 20% of the total real estate investment in China.5 This indicates that the period of the governmental housing security system is coming. In summary, in the reform and opening up of China for over thirty years, on the one hand the housing policy reforms have achieved historical breakthroughs in institutional innovation and made great achievements in housing construction; on the other hand, all these reforms have unduly emphasized on the significance of market-oriented model and the real estate developers, and resulted in the appeara |
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