Pudong’s ‘single’ status aims to cut housing prices
Print Edition
Divorced or widowed people with children will now be considered “single” throughout Shanghai when it comes to buying a home after the Pudong New Area tightened its property curbs.
Under the new rule, which came into effect yesterday, they will be able to buy one house if they have a local resident permit, or hukou, Pudong’s property trading center said.
Previously, they had been categorized as a “household” by the center, meaning they could buy two houses.
“As far as I know, all districts and the county in Shanghai except Pudong have been deploying such a definition since around the middle of last year,” said Song Huiyong, a research director at Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd.
Under the city’s current rules, local households are allowed to buy two homes while single people — unmarried, divorce or widowed, with or without children — can buy one.
Non-local households can buy one home if they can provide tax or social insurance certificates to prove residence in the city for a cumulative 24 months over the past three years but non-local singles are barred from buying a home in Shanghai.
Industry analysts say the latest tightening measure in Pudong is unlikely to have a major impact on the property market as demand from divorced and widowed people with children was insignificant but it did raise again the issue of non-locals entering into “fake” marriages to qualify for a home purchase or simply faking marriage licenses to buy an apartment.
To qualify for home purchase, a man from outside Shanghai reportedly published an advert on a e-commerce website offering 10,000 yuan to any woman between 18 to 80 willing to “marry” him and then divorce him after he had bought a house in the city.
“I personally know several single out-of-towners who dream of buying a house in Shanghai but the city’s current policy simply prevents them from doing so,” said Tony Wu, a 32-year-old Shanghainese IT manager.
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