Property rules for foreigners fleshed out

Details of rules issued in July to slow foreign investment in the nation's property market were published Monday by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the Ministry of Construction. In a joint statement, the two major Chinese government organizations said the rules aimed "to promote the healthy development of the property market". The 12 points in the document flesh out some elements of plans issued by various government arms in late July and are "mostly technical," Kenny Ho, an associate director at Jones Lang LaSalle in Shanghai told the Wall Street Journal. The rules, which established residency requirements and borrowing limits for certain transactions, will have their biggest impact on the margins of the market, partly because foreign investment is such a small portion of the property business, the newspaper reported.