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Beijing plans one million subsidized apartments

By Uking Sun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-12-15 21:31

Beijing plans to build one million government-subsidized apartments for low-income families during the next five-year plan (2011-2015) as the housing price continues to rise amid government controls, People's Daily reported Thursday.

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The plan includes 300,000 public rental apartments and 400,000 apartments reserved for people to be displaced because of demolition. About 100,000 families will receive the housing allowance, according to the plan.

Xu Zhijun, spokesperson of Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said the government will try to ensure all families who meet the criterions to benefit from the new policy support.

Beijing will also change the current housing support model from a reliance on selling low-priced houses to a combination of sales and rental, with the rental to take the lead in the next five years, Xu said.

In its editorial, The Beijing News suspected Beijing may find it difficult to raise enough funds, about 300 billion yuan, for this ambitious plan.

Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 0.3 percent in November month on month and 7.7 percent year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported.