After fake marriages and divorces, the latest trick used by mainland investors to evade tight curbs on home purchases is fake lending.
Residents in key cities are prohibited from purchasing a third home, while non-locals can acquire only one home, provided that they present proof of payment of income and social security taxes for one to five years.
Some non-locals are said to be planning to marry residents in order to purchase homes. Couples are also reported to be considering divorce, so that each party can buy a home.
A mainland blog has now reported that those who are barred from buying flats can lend money to those who are qualified to buy a home.
If the “borrower” cannot repay the loan, he will hand over the home to the “lender” once the case is filed in court.
However, the Beijing government is tightening inter-department cooperation for authorities to determine genuine buyers. Some banks in the city also scrapped discounts for first-home mortgages and proposed increasing mortgage rates to 1.1 times the benchmark interest rate, said Beijing Business Today.
Meanwhile, Shanghai announced that it will levy the maximum 0.6 percent in property estate tax on homes selling for over 28,426 yuan psf and 0.4 percent for properties costing less.