An official with the Ministry of Land and Resources has
clarified the position on land prices, which he said was
misinterpreted by the media to mean an overall price hike of up to
50 percent, Shanghai Securities News reported
yesterday.
Gan Cangchun, director of the ministry's Policies and
Regulations Department, said that the 50-percent price hike
envisaged by the ministry refers only to land for industrial
use.
Gan was referring to a report published in International
Finance News on Monday. According to the report, the
ministry's planned restrictions on land use were likely to drive
land prices up by as much as 50 percent.
The report said that land prices in China can be categorized as
follows: acquisition costs, including compensation for
requisitioned land; investment or development costs; and government
profits, made up of land-use fees, taxes levied for the utilization
of cultivated land and other similar charges.
New measures, contained in a ministry circular issued on
September 5, will increase all three categories of pricing by up to
two times. Average cost prices will increase by between 33 percent
and 50 percent, with increases corresponding to the purpose of land
use. Prices for land for residential use will be kept stable, and
are expected to fluctuate somewhat only in the smaller cities.
Prices for land for industrial use will be raised by between 40
percent and 60 percent.
Gan clarified that compensation for requisitioned land could
double, as could fees and taxes for the industrial use of
cultivated land.
?
He explained that these new measures were introduced to address
issues such as price manipulation by local governments. In many
parts of China, local authorities often lower prices for industrial
land in order to attract more investment.
(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, September 13, 2006)