Reform on track for property registration system

After the establishment of the national bureau of real estate registration in May 2014, many local governments have followed the central government's footsteps by launching such agencies within their own jurisdictions.

The Xiamen bureau of real estate registration was unveiled on Oct 8. It will be responsible for registrations of land, building, forest land, grassland, and maritime space in the city of Xiamen, Fujian province.

The registration of forest land, maritime space and contracted land in rural areas are now conducted by several government departments and will be integrated into the real estate registration bureau’s responsibilities later. The registration of contracted land in rural areas will likely go through a five-year period of transition.

In addition to data management, data monitoring, and data query services, the bureau is also required to draft related policies and regulations, solve disputes regarding critical real estate properties, and construct an information platform, which is expected to be completed in 2017.

So far, existing property right certificates are valid and will not need replacement before the new registration system is completed.

By founding the bureau, the Xiamen government intends to build an integrated and efficient registration system to keep track of businesses' and individuals' property rights.

This move is seen as paving the way for the advent of building property tax and legacy duty in the future, according to business insiders. But for the short term, it will not have much influence on the property market.

The taxes that may come around after a long period of time do not concern the people buying their first houses, said Fu Qiang, general manager of local property broker agency Gaopeng Fangchan. He said that the existing system of building property registration in Xiamen is well regulated already.

Fu, who is also the head of a brokers association in the city, said that the building property market will not see big surges at the present time.

By Liu Sitong and edited by Peter Nordlinger