Realty rule good but won't end graft

The State Council, China's cabinet, has published the draft regulation on real estate registration, which says a uniform platform would be established to provide countrywide information on real estate. The news has prompted people to assume that housing prices will drop soon because government officials owning more than one house will sell them off to avoid investigation. But that is unlikely to happen because the establishment of the information platform is expected to encounter serious obstacles, says an article in Beijing Youth Daily. Excerpts:

According to the draft regulation, the Ministry of Land and Resources will have the sole registration authority for real estate. But since real estate is not restricted to apartments and villas and includes farmland and other landed property, the registration powers have to be divided among several departments.

People expect corrupt officials who own many apartments to be exposed. But the information platform cannot be expected to help expose them because only the owners or the people who have a stake in the property can look up its related details. So, the establishment of the information platform will not have a direct impact on the fight against corruption.

Also, reforms have to be implemented in many fields before the information platform can be established. At present, each piece of real estate requires more than one set of certificates. For instance, buildings in urban areas must have certificates of ownership of both land and apartments. Hence, laws and regulations with terms that conflict with the uniform registration system have to be amended. With so many complicated prerequisites and obstacles, the sudden increase in the sale of second-hand houses, and thus a drop in property prices, is unlikely to happen.