The real estate industry is closely related to the basic life of the people, and is also related to the prosperity of the entire national economy. In order to promote its healthy development, governments in various countries will formulate a series of regulatory policies. This article draws on the effective experience of foreign governments in controlling housing prices and combines my country's national conditions to put forward some ideas and countermeasures for controlling housing price increases for discussion and reference.

1. Analysis of the deep-seated reasons for the rise in housing prices in my country

Housing is a special commodity related to everyone's "living and working in peace and contentment", while housing prices have become a major issue related to the national economy and people's livelihood. The central government has regarded controlling the growth of housing prices as an important current task. The announcement of the "National Eight Articles" and the "National Six Articles" and the launch of related regulatory levers have demonstrated the determination of the central government to control housing prices. However, housing prices did not drop significantly after the implementation of these measures. The slight decline in housing prices in some cities was also due to excessively high housing prices in these places. So, what is the reason for the rise in housing prices in my country? There are three underlying reasons:

1. The manifestation of supply and demand. Our country has a large population, but the per capita land area suitable for living is limited, and the supply of housing commensurate with people's income levels is seriously insufficient. After the reform and opening up, with the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for housing has grown rapidly. On the one hand, limited land resources, on the other hand, the expansion of urban scale and urban population have caused my country's real estate prices to continue to rise.

2. Driven by interests. Many local governments regard the real estate industry as a powerful driving force for local economic development, a pillar of fiscal revenue, and even a manifestation of government performance. Therefore, the implementation of the “Eight Articles of the Nation” and the “Six Articles of the Nation” has been compromised in some places. For example, when some local governments respond to people's requests to disclose the development costs of commercial housing, they argue that this is a business secret of the company and the government cannot disclose it.

3. The housing security mechanism is not perfect. The housing security mechanism is part of the national social security mechanism; due to its late start, our country has not yet established a complete housing security mechanism. Although many places in our country have successively launched measures to support the purchase of houses by low- and middle-income families, such as affordable housing, poverty alleviation housing, etc., due to imperfect security mechanisms and too many loopholes in operations, many houses have fallen to real estate speculators and even Return it to the hands of developers, so that people will have greater opinions.

2. The main experience of foreign governments in controlling housing prices

Many countries have experienced the problems and contradictions that have appeared in my country's housing market in recent years, and have also adopted many measures and means to regulate housing prices. . Although national conditions are different and some methods may not be feasible in our country, there are many measures that are of great reference to us. In summary, the main effective methods are:

1. Use tax leverage to control housing prices. Tax measures are primarily intended to curb residential speculation, with many countries imposing heavy taxes on second or more homes owned by residents. This law originated from Western countries such as the United Kingdom and is called a vacant property tax or an empty house tax. Real estate is registered in real names, and each citizen is only allowed to have one main residential property nationwide (this house enjoys tax exemption or maximum possible tax benefits). Other properties are subject to high capital gains tax when buying and selling. At the same time, in order to curb land reselling, the government will impose a transaction tax on land transactions that are not occupied by the landowner.

In addition, the imposition of high land taxes has also effectively curbed real estate speculation. In France, in addition to paying high land tax, home buyers also need to pay housing tax or empty house tax. This has led to the fact that French people have not regarded the real estate market as an important area for investment or property value preservation for a long time.

In order to curb the excessive growth of housing prices, the Korean government has successively introduced a series of macro-control policies targeting the real estate market. First, increase real estate taxation. To curb housing speculation, the government imposes heavy taxes on second or more homes owned by residents. In November 2006, the transaction tax on the transfer of second or more residences was increased from 9% to 36% to 50%. At the same time, in order to curb land reselling, the government levied a 60% transaction tax on land transactions that are not occupied by landowners. After the introduction of the new policy, South Korea's land price growth began to slow down, and land transaction volume decreased by 36.3% that month.

2. Use interest rate leverage to control housing prices. British house prices have entered a new rising cycle since the beginning of 2001, with annual growth exceeding 20% ??for more than three years until 2005.

To this end, the British government and the central bank have taken measures from both the supply and demand sides to curb the overheating of the real estate market. Since August 2005, the real estate market has gradually shown signs of cooling. On the one hand, the Bank of England raised interest rates five times from November 2003 to August 2004, from 3.5% to 4.75%, which led to an increase in mortgage costs and curbed the overheating of real estate consumer credit. On the other hand, the British government passed the Housing Act 2004 at the end of 2004, which provided guidance on how to ensure the construction of enough "social" housing that low-income groups can afford, create a more equitable and good housing market, and accelerate the implementation of the government's The 2010 "Decent" Housing Target and other measures have made a series of practical provisions, which effectively protect the housing rights of the low- and middle-income groups in society.

Another example is South Korea. On November 15, 2006, the government announced that it would build 100,000 housing units in the Gangnam District of Seoul, where housing prices have increased the most, in the next five years, and planned to increase bank loan interest rates. After the introduction of these measures, South Korea's real estate boom has cooled down significantly, and there is a strong wait-and-see atmosphere in the market.

3. Use low-rent housing to suppress housing prices. Since 1999, average house prices in France have increased by 45%. In order to curb possible bubbles in the real estate market, the French government stipulated in September 2006 that major cities must build a certain number of low-rent housing, accounting for approximately 15% to 20% of the total housing area. The existence of low-rent housing has reduced the demand in the housing buying and selling market, so housing prices have remained stable. In addition, the government has long implemented welfare systems such as rental subsidies, so that homeless households from all walks of life can enjoy government subsidies when renting a house.

In France, real estate companies that build low-rent housing can also receive central government subsidies. After completion, they will be managed by the "Low-rent Housing Management Office" under each local government. On the one hand, the housing supply is strictly controlled, and most low-rent houses are only for rent, not for sale; on the other hand, the rental situation of low-rent houses is disclosed to the public and accepted for public supervision.

4. Tilt towards low-income groups. The Mexican government's measures to favor low-income groups have the most obvious effect. In the process of urbanization in Mexico, a large number of rural people have moved into cities, and the housing problem of low- and middle-income people has become the key to social stability. Most developers are driven out by interests and choose to build high-end luxury housing for the middle and upper classes of society, making the development of social welfare housing unable to meet needs. To this end, the Mexican government has adopted housing policies that favor low-income groups. The Mexican government has suppressed the development of high-end residential properties by raising application fees for land use permits for high-end residential properties, raising mortgage interest rates, controlling loan size, and raising administrative fees and tax standards such as property rights assessments. At the same time, banks and national mortgage lenders also set stepped loan interest rates based on the predetermined selling price of houses. House prices are directly proportional to interest rates, further reducing the development of high-priced housing. The government also promotes the construction of low-cost housing through the National Workers' Housing Fund. For real estate projects with a price of less than 155,000 pesos (about 11 pesos per US dollar), the agency provides loans to developers at 2% below market interest rates; central and state governments reduce or even exempt them from obtaining land use permits At the same time, the government also allocates funds for the construction of supporting facilities such as roads, schools and medical institutions around the project.

5. Adhere to “welfare housing” and small apartments. The German federal, state and local governments all regard solving the housing problem of the people as the top priority of their governance. Over the years, Germany has invested huge sums of money to build “welfare housing” on a large scale and has always insisted on supplying small-family housing. By the end of the last century, the average housing area per household in the country was less than 100 square meters, one of the lowest among Western developed countries. This is also an important and effective measure for Germany to solve the housing problem. After World War II, the German federal, state, and local governments all made solving the housing problem of the people a top priority in their governance. Over the years, Germany has invested huge amounts of money in building “welfare housing” on a large scale. The so-called "welfare housing" refers to housing built with state funding, with lower rents, and specifically rented to low-income people. According to statistics, in the 60 years since the war, Germany has built nearly 10 million “welfare houses”.

3. Learn from foreign experience to improve my country’s housing price control policy

Combining my country’s specific conditions and drawing on effective foreign experience, we believe that the following means should be adopted to regulate housing prices.

1. The most critical measure is to improve our country’s housing security system.

When designing ideas for housing system reform, we fully drew on the successful experience of Western countries in improving the public housing security system. The 1998 "Decision of the State Council on Deepening the Housing System" (i.e. Document No. 23) clearly stipulates that my country will implement a classified housing supply system, that is, commercial housing will be provided to high-income earners, and economic housing with certain housing and social security will be provided to low- and middle-income earners. Appropriate housing provides low-rent housing with more housing social security for the lowest income earners. This is a correct choice that suits our country's national conditions and must be resolutely implemented. Facts have proven that it is not feasible to rely solely on market-oriented methods to solve our country's housing problem. It is necessary not only to increase the proportion of affordable housing and low-rent housing, but also to establish sound operating procedures to effectively solve the housing problems of the vast number of low- and middle-income people.

2. Use various channels to increase the supply of housing and adjust the relationship between supply and demand. Increasing the supply of housing and adjusting the relationship between supply and demand are the most fundamental measures to reduce housing prices. The government, enterprises and institutions can effectively stabilize the price of commercial housing by building a large number of self-built houses with good locations and good quality, increasing the supply and seizing the high-end customer base of commercial housing.

3. Make good use of tax leverage. Taxes will be used to regulate and suppress residents' behavior of speculating in real estate, purchasing second homes, commercial housing for resale within five years, and purchasing oversized and luxurious residences. Imposing heavy taxes on developers who hoard and raise prices. Real estate sales are clearly priced, and any house that has obtained a pre-sale certificate must be priced at one time for public sale. Heavily fines will be imposed on real estate developers who do not sell the houses they own, deliberately sell them, and raise prices on the ground. We will start collecting taxes on houses that have not been sold within one year, and strive to recover 1.5 times the project cost from taxes for those who have not sold a house for three years.

4. Reaffirm the relevant regulations of the Ministry of Construction on the management of real estate development qualifications and strictly implement the real estate development market access system. Judging from the current status of the real estate market, many consumer disputes occur precisely because some real estate companies lack effective management and professional technical support. The root cause is that non-professional real estate companies are developing. The real estate industry is a policy, technology, capital and management-intensive high-risk industry. It involves professional theoretical research, technical practice management (planning, architecture, construction and materials, etc.), financial risk control, macro policy grasp and industry policy understanding, etc. . If practitioners lack corresponding professional skills and management capabilities, the consequences can be imagined. At the same time, many non-professional real estate companies have obtained land through bidding or auction and entered the field of real estate development, which has also raised land prices to a certain extent, thus raising market expectations for housing prices. Judging from the current stage, strictly implementing the real estate development market access system and easing the market's excessive expectations have important practical significance for controlling abnormal rises in housing prices at this stage.

5. Strictly implement transparent house sales and other related policies. In developed countries with a market economy, the government often publishes commodity cost and price information that is closely related to people's lives. The purpose is to let the public understand and participate in the formation of prices, thereby making prices more reasonable.

Not long ago, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the "Notice on Stabilizing Housing Prices" issued by the Ministry of Construction and other departments. Article 8 clearly stipulates: Strengthen market monitoring, improve the market information disclosure system, and require all relevant parties to The department strengthens information communication and integration, and promptly discloses information on land supply, commercial housing market supply and demand, and changes in land and housing prices. The average social cost of commercial housing is not an industry secret, but public information that should be understood by the society. Through the average social cost of commercial housing and its average sales price, the public can make their own judgment on whether housing prices are reasonable. Disclosing the cost of housing prices does not replace the original control policy, but rather deepens the "improving information transparency" item in the "Eight National Policies".

Strictly implementing a transparent housing sales policy and publishing all housing listings and related information online will undoubtedly effectively solve the information asymmetry between supply and demand in the real estate market to a certain extent. This not only expands the space for consumers to obtain information, but also gives the market the right to know, participate and supervise. Judging from the actual implementation, regulating market behavior through online filing policies and related technical means can effectively curb irregularities such as artificial reluctance to sell, double booking, etc., so that consumers can buy houses with confidence and understanding.

From this perspective, the effective implementation of policies such as transparent housing sales can make the real estate market have a more open, fair and just trading environment, and thus form relatively reasonable market housing prices, which will help limit the abnormal rise in housing prices. Have a positive effect. Of course, data and information published in this way still require strict, effective, and continuous supervision and control to ensure that the data and information provided to the market are reliable and timely, and thus play their due role.