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Govt to share property rights of affordable housing

By Qiang Xiaoji (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-03 16:40
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China began to draft a protection law to guarantee affordable housing as a social welfare, Shen Weixing, a professor with Tsinghua University and one of the experts leading the drafting told Guangzhou Daily in an interview yesterday.

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The draft law suggests local government and the householders share the property rights of affordable housing. Affordable housing will still be allowed to be put on the market for sale in five years but the profits earned will be shared by the local government and the home owners together. Shen said it will be a measure to clamp down on purchasing low-cost houses as an investment.

The new law also tries to protect the basic right of housing of all residents. For those impoverished residents who cannot afford to buy an apartment, they will be provided with low-rent housing. For the low-and-medium wage earners, they can buy economically affordable apartments or limited-price properties. As for the people with higher income, they can choose commercial housing to improve their living standards, Shen said.
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