Chinese Home Prices Soar 1.1pc in June, More Crackdowns Launched

Now we know why the tone around real estate regulation turned extremely harsh over the past few weeks. New home prices jumped 1.1 percent in June. Existing home prices only rose 0.70 percent. The largest increases were in Dandong, Sanya and Haikou. There are some local economic factors driving prices in these cities. Dandong is near North Korea and a potential opening of the DPRK ignited speculation in that city. Sanya and Haikou are the major cities in Hainan, which became a major free trade zone. Removing these cities only drops the average price rise to 0.9 percent nationally though.

Xinhua: China's home prices remain stable in June
SCMP: China’s new home prices in June rise fastest in 20 months

Here's a chronology of recent posts on real estate starting from May 31 and going forward in time. Many posts are news stories, the *starred* posts have a some commentary and analysis or more in-depth translation/discussion of the article.

Central Planning 101: Housing "Shortages", Price Distortions Appear as Cities Limit Prices
Central Planning on Steroids: Shenzhen Will Control Housing Supply
Media Blames Govt Real Estate Controls For New Speculative Bubble
Wuhan Sells 20pc Off Housing for College Grads, Lottery Oversubscribed 4X
160 Buying Restrictions Added in 2018 and Home Prices Keep Rising
*The Final Stage: China Copies U.S. Housing Bubble Policies*
Third- and Fourth-Tier Cities Take Lead in Buying Restrictions
New Home Prices Rise Jump 0.8pc in May as Govt Control Efforts Drive Prices Higher
*China's Housing Mess: Govts Stimulating Demand and Curbing Supply, Fever Rising*
*Housing Lottery Frenzy in Shenzhen, Updated*
Over 3 Days, 3 Cities Shutdown Commercial Purchases of Homes; A First in China
China Launches 30 City Crackdown on Housing Speculators and Illegal Developers
Real Estate Chaos Causing Panic, Regulators Prepare to Drop Hammer in H2
China Tightens Screws on Real Estate Trusts
*China's Upside Down Housing Market*
Housing Chaos in 30 Cities, Crackdown Coming in Second-Half
Worries About Stagflation in 3rd and 4th-Tier Housing Markets
Chinese Cities Implementing Price Controls

The latest headline is out of Kunming, where officials have launched a "crackdown on housing speculators" amid "real estate chaos." New home prices rose 1.9 percent in June.

People's Daily: 昆明专项整治房地产市场乱象 严打投机炒房

The Kunming Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau recently issued the "Notice on Launching a Special Work to Combat the Infringement of the Interests of the Masses and Governing the Real Estate Market", which is proposed from July this year. Carry out a special treatment for the chaos in the real estate market for half a year, focusing on cracking down on speculative real estate behavior and real estate “black intermediary” to regulate market order.

The notice proposed that the special governance work will focus on rectifying monopolistic housing, operating house prices, reluctant sales, disseminating false information, and hiring people to create speculation in real estate speculation. At the same time, Kunming will also focus on rectifying the "black intermediary" to violently expel the lessee, malicious deduction of deposits and deposits, collusion with speculative real estate gangs, forced bundling services and other violations.

　　The notice also stated that it will severely crack down on real estate development enterprises to collect deposits, sincerity and other fees from purchasers before they obtain pre-sale permits for commercial housing; they do not sell commercial houses according to the government's filing price requirements, and increase the price in disguise; Selling more than one room will damage the legitimate rights and interests of the purchaser; after obtaining the pre-sale permit for the commercial house, it will not disclose all the saleable houses and the pre-sale price in one time within 10 days.

　　In addition, false real estate advertising is also the key governance object of this special governance work. The notice proposes that it will severely crack down on misleading buyers by misinterpreting real estate policies, publishing false listings and price information, and publishing pre-sale advertisements for real estate projects that have not been licensed or filed.