Deposits up for second homes in Shanghai

Shanghai Municipality on Friday released a new property control package, requiring second home buyers to make a minimum down payment of 70 percent, up from the previous 60 percent. The package also ordered buyers without a Shanghai hukou (official household registration) to have at least two years of tax or insurance records in the city. Previous regulations required only one year of such records. As a pilot zone for individual housing taxes, the city will continue to promote housing tax, targeting 110,000 households by the end of this year. Land supply for housing should also be increased by 30 percent over the average for the last five years to 1,000 hectares. "The city will constantly improve the housing market system together with the housing security system to prevent property prices from rising excessively," said Liu Haisheng, head of the Shanghai housing bureau.