SHANGHAI yesterday pressed harder on the brakes, hoping to slow fast-rising real estate prices with a set of new policies to curb property speculation.

Most notably, the city joined Beijing in capping the number of homes a family can purchase, a policy that's been in effect in the capital city since May 1.

According to a government circular issued yesterday evening, a family is entitled to buy only one home in the city "for a certain period of time."

The policy applies to both new and existing houses, the circular said.

"The new measures indicate once again the city's firm stance to rein in housing speculation as the market started to rebound recently due to deteriorating effect from the previous policies," said Ma Ji, a researchmanager with Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd, operator of the city's largest real estate chain.

The city has limited mortgages for first-time home buyers at 600,000 yuan (US$89,690), and for second-home mortgages to 400,000 yuan.

"The 'one-home' purchase restriction, in particular, will likely affect the market in terms of both volume and price and hopefully, we will see a cooled-down market in the fourth quarter," Ma said.

Meanwhile, to increase the supply of mid and low-end homes, the city will now allow owners of houses who had to move because of urban redevelopment to sell their new apartments three years after receiving the ownership certificates, instead of five years.

In addition, the city will levy a land value-added tax on real estate developers in a stricter manner, with different tax rates for different residential projects.

For example, a 2 percent rate will apply if the average sales price of a new residential project is lower than the average price of new homes. The comparisons will be made with average prices either inside or outside the Outer Ring Road, wherever the residential project is located.

A 5 percent rate will be charged if the project's price is more than double the average of the larger area. A 3.5 percent rate will be applied to houses that are higher than average, but not as much as double.

Despite widespreadanticipation, the long-debated property tax was not among the new measures announced yesterday. However, the city government said it would prepare to introduce it.

News stories in recent weeks had predicted a property tax, said to be set at a rate of 0.3 to 0.4 percent of a home's market value, is coming.

"Generally speaking, the latest efforts by the government come at a perfect time when market sentiment begins to recover," said Sky Xue, an analyst with China Real Estate Information Corp.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• estate [i´steit] n.财产；庄园；等级 (初中英语单词)
• circular [´sə:kjulə] a.圆形的 n.通知 (初中英语单词)
• previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• manager [´mænidʒə] n.经理；管理人；干事 (初中英语单词)
• operator [´ɔpəreitə] n.操作者；接线员 (初中英语单词)
• affect [ə´fekt] vt.影响；感动；假装 (初中英语单词)
• volume [´vɔlju:m, ´vɑljəm] n.卷；书籍；体积；容量 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• addition [ə´diʃən] n.加；加法；附加物 (初中英语单词)
• project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt] v.设计；投掷 n.计划 (初中英语单词)
• wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• sentiment [´sentimənt] n.情绪；多愁善感 (初中英语单词)
• speculation [,spekju´leiʃən] n.思索，推测；投机 (高中英语单词)
• limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中英语单词)
• restriction [ri´strikʃən] n.限制；限定；约束 (高中英语单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• ownership [´əunəʃip] n.所有权；所有制 (英语四级单词)
• widespread [´waidspred] a.广布的；普遍的 (英语四级单词)
• anticipation [æn,tisi´peiʃən] n.预期；预料；期望 (英语四级单词)
• notably [´nəutəbli] ad.显著地；著名地 (英语六级单词)
• hopefully [´həupfəli] ad.抱着希望地 (英语六级单词)
• applied [ə´plaid] a.实用的，应用的 (英语六级单词)
• speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)