Shanghai is not loosening rules on foreign investors buying property according to officials at the Shanghai municipal housing land & resources administration bureau.  Rumors had been swirling after the bureau posted a notice that said foreign nationals, legal representatives and other organizations are qualified to participate in land bids.

The local media jumped on this and began reporting that in the past, only foreign companies that had registered firms on the Chinese mainland were qualified. As the China Daily reports, this is not true:

Foreign nationals, legal representatives and organizations have been qualified to take part in land bidding since the No 2 land tendering notice of 2006 was released last October, while the No 1 notice of 2006 defined foreign investors as those who had been registered as living in China for at least one year. (more…)

According to the South China Morning Post, the Macau government will revamp its land valuation criteria, based on a public consultation to be launched in June or July, according to new secretary for transport and public works, Lau Si-io.

Mr Lau - who replaced disgraced former minister Ao Man-long, who is facing corruption charges - also told the legislature yesterday that Beijing had not approved a controversial reclamation scheme submitted last year. (more…)

The real estate market in Guangzhou is to face closer scrutiny following the launch Monday of a new campaign by municipal authorities. China Daily reported that eleven government departments will aim to expose firms’ tricks and misbehavior relating to property developments, marketing and sales activities. The departments involved include those responsible for the city’s development and reform, construction, land resources and housing, urban planning, pricing, industrial and commercial administration, statistics, auditing, finance, taxation and governmental administration supervision.

Ouyang Yongsheng, a spokesperson for the municipal government said special emphasis would be placed on whether developers had illegally hoarded land for speculation, driven up prices by releasing false information or by cornering a market, disobeyed the city’s overall urban planning regulations, used pricing tricks, released for sale properties that had yet to pass official inspections and receive approval, or acted against the State’s taxation policy to prevent speculative apartment purchases. (more…)

With the spreading development of foreign direct investments across China, not only big cities, but also second tiers city have become more concerned about how to make most from the limited land they have. The southern Chinese city of Zhongshan it’s an interesting example in this regard.

While the Zhongshan Government has issued a wide range of policies for the development of both city social life itself and industry growing in East Zhongshan, it has also issued its own catalogue for industrial investment, with four categories - main encouraged industries, territorially encouraged industries, limited industries and prohibited industries. This policy will probably help to sustain the cities business environment, but will also influence and determine both domestic and foreign-invested companies successes and failures.

Furthermore, recently the government issued a notice on strengthening the management of industrial factory. In the past, many factories in Zhongshan were built up without caring too much about regulatory requirements or performing necessary construction procedures, fire control or other procedures. It meant that having completed the construction, the investor started production in locations without having performed environmental impact evaluation, lease registration, fire control examination, and on occasions without the required business registration documentation. (more…)