Gov't backs joint home ownership trials

THE central government will support a trial of joint ownership properties in Beijing and Shanghai to boost housing supply, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said today.

The two cities are being encouraged to make systematic innovations and look at the impact on several areas, including property rights, use and management as well as the transfer of property rights.

The findings and experience from the trials would be replicated in other areas of the country, the ministry said in a statement on its website. It did not say how the central government would support the trials.
 
The trials are part of a national effort  to meet basic housing needs. The joint ownership model being looked at involves homes in which the government and the homeowner share ownership. When the homes are re-sold, the homeowner pays a certain share of the profit to the government.

The properties must also be bought for the buyer to live in, “not for speculation.”

Detailed regulations, including criteria for qualified buyers, pricing, ownership division and transfer and property management will be worked out based on the trials.

As of the end of 2016, about 89,000 joint ownership housing units had been provided in Shanghai.  In Beijing, the city government plans to release about 250,000 joint ownership homes onto the market over the next five years.