From Chinese Press

Land prices extract high cost

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-28 08:05

If all the usable land in Beijing were to be transferred at the current price, it would fetch an amount larger than the United States' GDP. Though it is just a conjecture, it points to the grave situation that high property prices have created. Authorities should seriously consider ways to deflate the bubble in the property market, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. Excerpts:

It is estimated that China's GDP will surpass that of the US by 2030. But if all the usable land in Beijing was transferred at the current price of about 8,000 yuan ($1,215) per square meter, China could replace the US as the No 1 economy in the world. It could do so by relying solely on the housing market, not by restructuring its economy. That should give people an idea about how high land prices are in China.

But no economy can expect to boom on the back of its real estate market alone. This industry has made some countries taste short-term benefits, but it has also generated chronic pain.

There is already a consensus nationwide on the existence of a bubble in China's real estate market. This has been confirmed by a ranking list released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on property bubbles in Chinese cities. This reflects not only the condition of the industry, but also the local economies.

When the bubbles in first-tier cities start spreading to other cities, they would create problems for China's economy.

But fortunately, the government has decided to implement housing tax and resource tax. Macroeconomic control should curb skyrocketing housing prices and deflate the property bubble by eliminating speculation.