Hi,

I've been looking for answers to the following questions for a while. Unfortunately, even at the Minhang District Real Estate Market Exhibition I went yerterday I couldn't get them, for no District Government desk, only salers!!

I'm posting here for your consideration.

1/A foreigner living here with a Z visa for more than a year can definitively own a house. Confirm.

2/ I heard that he can not lease this house, whether he leave the city or the country

3/He can not own more than one house in one province.
A realstate agent told me that data of districts' government are not inter-connected therefore he can own one in each district.

4/Other provinces allow more than one house.
Jiangsu allows two.

5/He can not sale his house before 5 years of ownerships.
If true, what then if he is to leave the city or the country in the meantime?

6/Some foreigners buy for their family members to escape the limitation of one house.
Is it any minimum age for the buyer (my elder is 12)?

I was given the following Government Estate Service for enquiry. Chinese only language. Tel 6412 7003, 215 Yazhi Road.

1/ Actually it is not in regard to your Z-visa but when you come to China you need to change this in to a residence permit and a work permit, if you after one year of living here still have a valid residence permit then you are allowed to buy the house.

Edit: Yes yes... property, house... same same

^can buy the house, but not own the property (land)

To the best of my knowledge

1/A foreigner can definitively own a house. But said foreigner needs to have work contract in mainland China (and should have to have worked there for at least 1 year).

2/ Not true

3/This is taking advantage of a loophole. Technically foreigners cannot own more than one house in China period. However, if you own more than one house, as long as they are in different districts, no one will check.

4/don't know about this one, but as foreigners cannot buy more than 1 place in China, either this is another loophole or else not true.

5/ Not true

6/Yes, there is a minimum age for the buyer (not sure what age but your oldest may qualify)

Would be interested to hear what others know.

^1/ is as I said, nothing to do with the Work Permit but with the Residence Permit. A person who is studying here can also buy a house.

5/ I think there is an extra tax though if you sell it within 5 years.

1. Yes right. I bought a house on an L visa with the standard temporary residence permit.

3. I cannot buy 2 properties in Shanghai, but to buy a 2nd one elswhere is O.K.

5. You can sell at anytime, BUT you will be subject to capital gains on that sale.
A recent change to Shanghai taxation means to sell in under 2 years you will be taxed at about 5.1 %.(capital gain only).
After 2 years nil tax. (Was 5 years).

interesting about the point about only a RP being needed as opposed to a work permit. I was of the impression from previous threads that you needed to show official income tax fapiaos, which implies you need a work permit.

^ Apparently only residence permit needed, might have changed recently but those are the rules now.

Hi,
I do have Resident Card and Work permit as well.

I do confirm that the law was changed last year therefore the usual knowledge may need to be update a little.
The saler who gave me this info was not aware of what exactly has changed from the past.

Probably next week chinese posters or foreigners mastering chinese language may be able to obtain accurate and update info from the official service I posted the Tel.

interesting....makes sense I suppose. If you invested loads of cash on an F visa, you should still be able to buy a property. X and L......why not eh? These rules seem to change in tandem with the temperature of the real estate market. Two years ago they were bringing in circular after circular to make it difficult for foreigners to buy. Now that they need the money to prop up prices.........

^ actually so long as you have continuous legal residency with a Residence permit you qualify. That includes both a work permit related RP and a X-visa student RP. As for L ro F, it will need to be continuous residency of a year so usually that means a one year validity visa minimum.

3) Not legally but that is currently not enforced by several districts pushing to maintain Real Estate sales levels. ( had heard that recent law changes may be allowing loopholes to be used for multiple residence ownership. )

5) Sure you can. Under 2 years you pay a short term Cap gains penalty. up thru 5 years you can sell if its your only property otherwise you pay a penalty. You still pay a 5.05% sales tax though.

Better not to buy house at this moment. It was said the property tax will come out soon. The current price is really high compare to average local income.The property price will drop rapidly. Think it twice.

You can definitely buy multiple apts in Shanghai as a foreigner currently.
I have the green books to prove it

Must be different districts though.

1) Yes
2) Can definitely lease, although foreigners are supposed to live in their primary residence
You will need to pay tax if you lease it, unless the renter doesn't need a fapiao (rare).
Agency will usually do this for you, and take off the rental.

3) As others have said, not strictly enforced.
As I have found, not a problem to own lots of property in China, or Shanghai.
See my note about different districts above.
Even in the same district its possible, although a little bit mafan.

Tip - Chinese ID's don't change, but passport numbers do. Chinese system doesn't cater for that fact.

Not saying any more.

4) Probable, but irrelevant.

5) < 5 years need to pay capital gains tax.

*Unless its your first apt, and its your primary residence*, in which case you don't need to pay capital gains tax. Essentially you don't need to pay it...

6) Given that the chinese do the same, probably no real age limit.
Not sure offhand though!


Note that different districts are tougher / easier about these things. Also different people have different experiences.

Paul and I both recently did apt stuff in Putuo Qu - for me, they were very easy/flexible, for him, everything had to be 100% jin chang.

So YMMV!

Good tips from compsolution. The "tip" is typical of Chinese administration law enforcement. You can get around almost anything, legally. Somehow I think its time to invest in real estate again.