Shanghai Daily news

Some property developers are taking advantage of the proposed government restriction on uncompleted housing transfer by stopping the approval of such sales as the limitation on the transfers may actually help them.
"Actually, the restriction on uncompleted housing transfer will be good for the developers as they can control their project's market price," said Yang Zijiang, real estate research director of Fortunite Consulting Co Ltd.
Previously, buyers of first-phase apartments may put the units on the market before sales of the second phase start. If they set prices lower than what the developers expect, it will cut the second-phase profit margin for the property firms.
"Surely they (developers) are willing to adopt the regulation as soon as possible," Yang added.
Local agents told Shanghai Daily that it's hard to deal with transactions involving uncompleted apartment transfer.
"Some developers have stopped approving uncompleted apartment transfer in their projects," said Feng Yechao, a Shanghai eRehousing Co Ltd agent.
The transfer of uncompleted housing sales needs approval from the developer.
"Others (developers), hoping to make profits from their power, ask for commission for the procedure," Feng said. "In practice, the commission is about 1.5 percent of the property's value, but I have seen a sales manager asking for up to 100,000 yuan (US$12,048)."
Details of the proposed restriction are still being discussed by the government.
Shanghai government spokeswoman Jiao Yang said last month that it is working on regulation concerning transfer of unfinished housing. That has led to market speculation that the government is trying to curb the surging housing prices boosted by investors.
Shanghai's housing prices have increased for three years. The rise is partly fueled by investors from other regions.
According to the Shanghai Statistics Bureau, apartments bought as investment accounted for 16.6 percent for the apartments surveyed. For the apartments priced above 7,000 yuan per square meter, purchase for investments accounted for 39 percent of the total.
The People's Bank of China is working on restricting loan transfers. The move is expected to affect transactions of properties bought with bank loans, as the seller must get approval from the bank before he transfers the apartments.