Beijing implements new housing market rules to prioritize completed-home sales

The city of Beijing requires new commercial housing projects to complete main-structure topping-out before applying for presale permits, and prioritizes completed-home sales, according to a guideline issued by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and three other municipal departments Thursday.

For new commercial housing projects after Aug 28, each building must have its main structure topped out before presale is allowed to proceed, according to the guideline.

To ensure compliance, project developers, surveyors, designers, contractors, and supervisors must jointly sign and seal an official acceptance record.

Presale revenue for these projects will be put under supervision.

Starting Aug 28, sale of completed homes are prioritized in new projects, the guideline says. It says in the mode of completed-home sale, developers may first sign deposit contracts with buyers after obtaining construction permits, with deposits generally capped at 1 percent of the total home price.

Buyers may terminate the deposit contract if developers fail to deliver homes on time, according to the guideline.

To ease developers' funding pressure, land transfer payments may be paid in installments, according to the guideline.

Beijing implements new housing market rules to prioritize completed-home sales

A Chinese defense spokesman on Thursday accused the Philippines of making provocations in the name of security cooperation in the South China sea.

At a press conference in Beijing, Jiang Bin, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, responded to a media query about the Philippines using its co-chairmanship of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus Experts' Working Group (EWG) on Maritime Security to rally certain countries for a joint military exercise near China's Huangyan Dao.

The Philippines is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"Taking advantage of its role as co-chair of the EWG on Maritime Security, the Philippine side has put aside the principle of consensus through consultation and co-opted relevant countries into conducting a joint military exercise in areas near China's Huangyan Dao. The exercise is in fact a provocation and propaganda in the name of security cooperation. It will only disrupt regional peace and stability and runs counter to the regional consensus of jointly preserving peace and promoting development," said Jiang.

Philippines makes provocations in name of security cooperation: Chinese military spokesman