Beijing limits house purchase in new administrative center

Beijing housing authorities on Friday night ordered to restrict home purchases in its eastern Tongzhou district, expected to be a subsidiary municipal administrative center for the capital, to curb housing speculation. Housing prices have been climbing up in Tongzhou as Beijing announced earlier last month it would move some of its city administration from the downtown to the suburban district. The construction of the new administrative center is part of Beijing's plan to deal with its own "urban ills" such as traffic congestion and to implement the integrated development strategy. Local-registered residents who own one house but have not had household registered (hukou) or paid social insurance and individual tax for at least three years in Tongzhou are banned from buying a second home there, the Beijing municipal commission of housing and urban-rural development said in a circular. While for those whose "hukou" are from other cities and provinces, they need a record of payment of at least three years of social insurance contributions in Tongzhou to buy a first house, it said.