SHORTAGES in land supply will continue this year, and are expected to bring up land prices steadily, officials with the Ministry of Land and Resources said. With steady economic growth and strong demand in the property market, the land shortage is ongoing, officials said. To improve land use efficiency and guarantee healthy economic development, the Beijing municipal government has pledged to restrain the structure and scale of real estate development. It is necessary to restrict those areas where there is blind and excessive construction, said Ding Xiangyang, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform. The government has also promised to control land supply and increase commercial housing of middling quality to maintain a steady real estate market. Property prices have tripled in major Chinese cities in the last five years, prompting a series of government measures to cool down the overheated housing market last year. The Ministry of Land and Resources and other government departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Construction, concluded an unprecedented nationwide probe into rampant land abuses in development zones late last year. The investigation has resulted in the shutting-down of 4,813 development zones, about 70.1 per cent of the nation's total. Now, the nation has 2,053 development zones, covering 13,700 square kilometres of land, latest statistics show. |
