Shanghai Daily news

Home buyers flood a tax collection outlet in Shanghai yesterday on rumors that the tax rate on home purchase deals will double. Officials have urged buyers to ignore the rumor.(Photo: Shanghai Daily)

Shanghai has no immediate plans to increase its tax on contracts to purchase homes despite citywide rumors that the tax will be doubled.
The local tax bureau said over the weekend that it had not announced any changes to the current contract tax rate on house purchases and talk that the rate would double was only market speculation.
"Though there are more local residents flooding the real estate transaction centers to pay the contract tax, we have not got any official information about the rise in the tax," said an official of the Shanghai Housing and Land Administrative Bureau.
At present, the tax on a home purchase contract in Shanghai is 1.5 percent of the home's value, a ratio that is widely rumored to rise to 3 percent soon.