By Cheryl Tay:
In line with efforts to address the housing needs of its growing population, China will build six million state-subsidised homes next year, reported The Straits Times.
According to Housing Minister Jiang Weixin, they have been “making good progress in construction of social housing…the 12th five-year plan (until 2015) calls for 36 million units.” This is in addition to the current 7.2 million units being built this year.
Since 2010, Beijing has been trying to curb soaring property prices through home-buying restrictions. China’s 100 biggest cities posted a decline in price increases earlier this year but prices have climbed since June, as Beijing eased interest rates to control the economic slowdown.
Jiang also said that public housing units will be fairly distributed among lower-income Chinese, amid complaints that well-off residents with local government connections have the chance to own some of the housing units. Questions of corruption were also raised as some residents complained about poor construction.
Beijing has allocated 100 billion yuan (S$19.6 billion) for public housing and shanty town development, and additional spending is expected as over 100 million farmers will be moving to urban areas in the years to come.
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