There is a light that never goes out
I may never say this again, but this time China has it right. The Chinese government has used taxes and other policies to discourage real estate speculation, curb development of luxury housing and commercial developments in heavily populated areas, and ensure a good supply of affordable housing
Can you think of somewhere that would do well to look into what China has done? LOL
The government basically has recognized that cooling the housing market is their priority. They have realized that too many developments are geared to building luxury housing and commercial property.
Again, I can't think of what place really sounds like this ...
Someone in the government realizes that low-income families are generally priced out of a market that has focused on wealthy investors while neglecting construction of affordable housing.
The solution included creating something akin to a capital gains tax if you flip a property within 2 years of purchase.
Some of the measures were a bit much, like imposing the size of adequate housing and pricing before developers are granted development rights by the government, and capping development profits at 3%. Other restrictions included penalties for not developing within a certain time, and a two year time limit that resulted in revocation of entitlements, should no development occur
Other interesting provisions included local rules such as requiring home owners to pay off their entire mortgage before selling their property, and a gains tax on residential property sold within one year of buying it
Like I said, I can't think of a place where such policies might help a very tight, overheating housing market
The full article is here.
Comments
I agree, the growth problem really does complicate the affordable housing issue -- you can build but that means that more people, more demands on our stressed out transportation picture here -- so we shall just build it, hoping someone else will ride it, and miss out on the key idea of managing growth here
Posted by: satlu | May 14, 2005 6:16 PM
I still believe there needs to be something done about population growth here in the islands. If the population is quadrupling every 20 years then obviously we need to umm... curb it maybe? This is an island... there is no more room to build houses and the streets/roads are far to jammed.
Witness the "little" accidents that happened on the leeward side this week for reasons WHY we need to do do something soon about the population. No mass transit will fix the problems we have if we keep allowing people to move here and build here.
*steps off soap box*
Posted by: janitor | May 13, 2005 8:59 PM