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August 15, 2012 9:20 AM Posted By: Melissa M. Chan As criticism of land grabs and forced demolitions continues, the Wall Street Journal reports that despite signs of a rebound in the property market, Chinese developers are skittish at land auctions: A number of cities, including Shenyang, Dalian, Zhuhai and Tianjin, have seen disappointing land auctions, with many real-estate developers reluctant to add to their land holdings. That is bad news for local governments, which depend on land sales for a large slice of their revenue. Data from the Ministry of Finance show that revenue nationwide from land transfers dropped 27.1% to 1.35 trillion yuan ($212.1 billion) in the first seven months of the year compared with a year earlier. Government officials in Shenyang, Dalian and Tianjin all declined to discuss the data. An official in Zhuhai conceded that there has been a problem selling land even at reduced prices, adding that this has squeezed government resources. "It's difficult to sell land now," the official said. "The government had to scrap plans for auctions, and has had to sit tight and see how things work out." Some cash-rich companies like China Vanke Co., 000002.SZ -0.12% the nation's biggest listed developer by market value, have jumped into the market, either at auction or in second-hand deals. But others are holding back, waiting for local governments to lower their prices or to see if the market is making a more solid turnaround. Amid difficulties in auctioning off land, Beijing and local governments have produced conflicting real estate policies. From MarketWatch: Over the pas

Thématique n° 2 [ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Jing Wu, Joseph Gyourko, Yongheng Deng Paru dans : Regional Science and Urban Economics, Volume 42, Issue 3, May 2012, Pages 531-543, Special Section on Asian Real Estate Market Abstract High and rising prices in Chinese housing markets have attracted global attention. Price-to-rent ratios in Beijing and seven other large markets across the country have increased by 30% to 70% since the beginning of 2007. Current price-to-rent ratios imply very low user costs of no more than 2%-3% of house value. Very high expected capital gains appear necessary to justify such low user costs of owning. Our calculations suggest that even modest declines in expected appreciation would lead to large price declines of over 40% in markets such as Beijing, absent offsetting rent increases or other countervailing factors. Price-to-income ratios also are at their highest levels ever in Beijing and select other markets, but urban income growth has outpaced price appreciation in major markets off the coast. Much of the increase in prices is occurring in land values. Using data from the local land auction market in Beijing, we are able to produce a constant quality land price index for that city. Real, constant quality land values have increased by nearly 800% since the first quarter of 2003, with half that rise occurring over the past two years. State-owned enterprises controlled by the central government have played an important role in this increase, as our analysis shows they paid 27% more than other bidders for an otherwise equivalent land parcel.