Hello,

My cousin is considering buying an apartment (or detached house)
in Shanghai and has a number of questions on the process
and on government regulations and taxes.

He is a US citizen living in Shanghai.

Pointers to web sites that discuss these issues (in English)
would be appreciated.

1. Chinese Residencey:
Are there laws about how long he must have already lived in China,
or be living in China ongoing into the future, in order to purchase
an apartment or house?
Can he rent the apartment/house, or must he be living in it
(principal residence)?

2. Currency: Can he make the purchase in US Dollars, or must
he first transfer US dollars into a Chinese bank in RMB?
Currency transfer back: suppose he moves dollars to RMB in a Chinese
bank and the apartment purchase falls thru -- can he easily
move the RMB back to dollars and back to a foreign bank?

3. Transfer taxes on the purchase?

4. Yearly property taxes? In the US, one pays property tax
on the property every year, a substantial sum. Does China
have property taxes?

5. Laws and taxes if/when he sells the property:
a. Taxes on the sale?
b. Taxes on the capital gain (profit on difference between
sale price and purchase price)?
c. Legal to take the profit and transfer it out of China,
say into US dollars to a US bank? Taxes on that?

thanks,
Chris Newman <Newman95014@hotmail.com>

Take a look at this link: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/0 ... igners.htm.