[photopress:Shenzen.jpg,full,alignright]According to The Standard the southern Chinese economic zone of Shenzhen has introduced new home ownership regulations in a bid to cool the market. There are new restrictions on Hong Kong residents and foreigners.
With immediate effect foreigners can buy only one flat for their own use and must have spent more than a year working or studying in Shenzhen.
The Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Land Resources and Housing Management and the Shenzhen office of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange have issued a joint notice saying that anyone not meeting the requirements cannot register as owners of property. This may take some of the heat out of the market.
According to Land Power, a property consultant, in the first quarter of 2007, Hong Kong residents spent RMB4.2 billion on mainland property, primarily in Shenzhen .
In the first half of the year housing prices in Shenzhen surged 40%, while the average price of new properties exceeded RMB10,000 ($1,321) a square meter.
Average housing prices in Shenzhen were around RMB9,400 per square meter in 2006, but the figure rose to RMB10,600 in January and to over RMB14,500 in June.
Prices of new properties in Shenzhen Nanshan District reached an average of RMB22,000 per square meter, spurred by the July 1 opening of the Shenzhen Bay Port and Shenzhen Bay.
Properties inside the Shenzhen Economic Zone, including Luohu, Futian, Nanshan and Yantan districts, saw even more remarkable price rises.
Average prices climbed to over RMB20,000 in June from RMB12,500 in January. Meanwhile, average housing prices in Baoan and Longgang districts outside the zone increased 29% to RMB12,700 from RMB9,800.
Source: Forbes and China Daily