|
BIZCHINA> Center
![]() |
|
Tax cut to attract more homebuyers
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-24 07:52 Homebuyers in Beijing will have their contract tax halved if the price is below a certain level from today. The Beijing municipal construction committee issued a circular on Saturday to this effect as part of its effort to encourage spending to boost the housing market and tackle the economic downturn.
For example, if a person buys a 120-sq-m apartment in the Wangjing area at the existing average price of 13,000 yuan per sq m, he/she has to pay a contract tax at the rate of 1.5 percent, instead of 3 percent because the total cost would be 1.56 million yuan. The municipal government has made that possible by raising the tax benefit threshold to 1.65 million yuan.
According to a 2006 municipal government rule, only people buying apartments smaller than 120 sq m for less than 9,300 yuan per sq m (in the Wangjing area), for example, were eligible to pay 1.5 percent contract tax. But property prices have risen dramatically in Beijing in the past two years. It has become almost impossible for homebuyers to get a preferential tax treatment. The move is aimed at rescuing the property market, said Li Wenjie, general manager of property agency Centaline China (North China region). But it may not be enough to make more people buy houses because the contract tax is only a small part of the cost. "Especially when many developers are offering more than 10 percent discount, the tax reduction would hardly help," he said. Xie Yiming, an advertising company employee, has been looking for an apartment. He plans to get married next year but would still prefer to watch the market for a while. "The price trend is important for me and friends have told me the downward trend could continue for some time," he said. The Beijing municipal bureau of statistics said on Saturday that the average price of apartments in October fell by 0.2 percent month-on-month, the first time since 2005. And investment in apartments in the first three quarters of this year dropped 15.7 percent year-on-year.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
|
||||
织金县| 龙山县| 精河县| 加查县| 夏邑县| 时尚| 廉江市| 孟津县| 武清区| 新宁县| 启东市| 兴文县| 衡水市| 乳山市| 辽阳市| 嘉鱼县| 乌鲁木齐市| 怀仁县| 项城市| 策勒县| 乐清市| 清新县| 青铜峡市| 长宁区| 恩施市| 壤塘县| 伊通| 宁安市| 汤阴县| 开江县| 英吉沙县| 南皮县| 龙海市| 南城县| 始兴县| 北碚区| 金川县| 大足县| 理塘县| 成都市| 罗平县|