The Ntate Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is revising the Catalogue of the Guidance on Foreign Investment Industries for the second time. Industry insiders said that ordinary housing developing and building projects might not be included in the list of "encouraged type" for foreign investors as is in the current version.

The current version of the Catalogue was revised by NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce on November 30, 2004 and took effect on January 1, 2005. It classifies the field of foreign investments into the three categories of "encouraged", "restricted" and "prohibited". A person in the knowing said that the structure of the three categories would be kept in the new revised version.

However, the person worried that if too many sectors were still classified into the restricted or prohibited types, it would damage the international image of China as a WTO member. Also the sectors under excessive protection could not be fully developed because of the ineffective competition.

According to the statistics of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), overseas institutions have bought 3.4 billion US dollars worth of buildings in China and these did not include projects that were not calculated. Several departments and commissions including the Ministry of Construction and SAFE are contemplating to issue new regulations to restrict foreign capital entering real estate market.

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