Registration system will have little effect upon realty market

China's provisional law on realty registration came into effect on Sunday, according to which property ownership will be registered in one system that can be accessed online. Some residents in several cities have already got new versions of their ownership certificates to replace the old ones. Comments:

A natural question of the law is that will it affect realty prices? Months before the law came out, the domestic media had speculated that corrupt officials would sell off their properties, leading to an abrupt fall in realty prices. Such expectations have had a certain effect upon the realty market bringing down house prices a little, but in time the effect will disappear.

Yang Hongxu, a senior researcher at Shanghai E-House R&D Institute, March 2