China's real estate registration announcement welcomed

A government circular announcing that China will spell out regulations on real estate registration before the end of June 2014 has received a warm welcome in media on Friday. The State Council notice, which was published online on Thursday and detailed the major tasks of government departments for 2013-2017 in institutional reforms, said China will introduce and implement a unified system on real estate registration in 2014. The Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, along with the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Administration of Taxation, are responsible for the job, according to the notice. On China's Twitter-like service Sina Weibo, economist Zuo Xiaolei expressed hope on Friday that the long-proposed national net of real estate information registration can be truly established this time. She characterized the move as a step in line with China's efforts to form a national network of housing information. Citing analysts, a Weibo entry by The Wall Street Journal's Chinese-language website said real estate registration is likely to accelerate China's housing tax reform. Many Internet users expressed belief that the move will help China's corruption fight after online scrutiny last year led to the punishment of a number of officials who illegally owned a large amount of real estate beyond their financial means. Adopted by China's top legislature earlier this month, the State Council institutional reform plan said the proposed unified real estate registry system is intended to protect the security of property transactions and effectively protect the legal rights of property owners.