Real needs of housing market

Responding to the recent frenetic rise in housing prices, the central government in January announced the "new eight points of State Council regulation", showing its determination to cool down the real estate market.

Consequently, up to 17 cities have promulgated restriction orders for homebuyers. The most stringent requirements are that of the Beijing municipal government. People who do not have local hukou, or household registration, have to furnish evidence of paying taxes to the city tax department for the last five years to qualify as homebuyers.

It seems that the Beijing government is trying everything to cool down the property market. Playing the role of an internal "passport", the hukou rule was initially promulgated to prevent "blind flow" of farmers into cities.