Timeline

1985: Businesses and government departments in Beijing are given permission to sell subsidized flats to their workers.

1990: The State Council issues a pilot rule on the transfer of urban land usage rights. The move is seen as the beginning of China's real estate industry.

1996: China abandons the welfare housing system in which State enterprises built houses for employees. A matching fund system is set up to encourage people to buy their own apartments.

Oct 29, 1998: Debut of the country's first 19 low-cost housing projects, including Tiantongyuan and Huilongguan in Beijing.

2005: "Eight principles" are established to cool down the market, including raising mortgage rates for individual home buyers, ensuring the supply of small- and medium-sized apartments, curbing speculative buying and levying taxes on property sales made within two years of purchase.

2006: Six ministries issue a notice limiting the flow of foreign capital into the real estate market.

2010: Premier Wen Jiabao says the country will build 10 million units of government-subsidized property in 2011, nearly double the previous year's 5.8 million units.

2011: The State Council raises the minimum down payment for second-home buyers to 60 percent and calls on local governments to set price targets in the latest move to rein in property prices.

(China Daily 06/01/2011 page8)