Hukou
In current Chinese society, each person is registered with their hometown local government at birth. One of the oldest method deployed by the Chinese government to control the overwhelming growth in population, hukou, is a household registration booklet. Similar to passports or government issued ID, but much more detailed documentation on members of the family that includes parents’ names, date of birth, marriages and divorces, and city in which you belong to. For people seeking career opportunities in the first-tier cities (such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Shenzhen), they would not enjoy the same rights and benefits if they do not hold first-tier city hukou.[1] These rights and benefits include right to home ownership in the first-tier city.
Li Xue, 21, who does not have hukou household registration documents, shows journalists her mother’s hukou in the bedroom they share in Beijing on March 10, 2015. The documents decide what services Chinese people can access, based on their families’ place of origin.
This is the main way that the government control and migration within the country. Since public investments have mainly been primarily focused on developing a selected number of “tier-one” and “tier-two” cities, often situated close to China’s eastern coast, there have been an overwhelming trend of workers flocking to the large cities for education and work. This phenomenon had led to rapid expansion of cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which in turn have pushed up prices of homes and rental rates. To prevent housing bubbles in these massive newly formed metropolitans, the government have focused on curbing the rise in housing prices through regulations.
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Visa for foreigners
Located south of mainland China, Hainan is China’s southernmost province. Completely separated from mainland China, the only way to access the island is by air or by boat. Historically, Hainan use to be part of the Guangdong province and have served an important role in trades with Southeast Asian countries and strategically located within the South China Sea shipping routes.
https://blogs.voanews.com/state-department-news/2012/07/31/challenging-beijing-in-the-south-china-sea/
Given its location and abundance of natural resource and pristine beaches, China had for years tried to develop Hainan as a central tourist attraction both for Chinese consumer as well as international travellers. 2018 marked the 30-year anniversary of Hainan’s independence from Guangdong Province, and “Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an acceleration of its development into a center for international tourism and consumption”.[2] The island has been placed at the center stage of real estate development amongst mainland developers in China after the government has issued a number of reforms aimed to turn Hainan into the largest free-trade zone in China.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/871057.shtml
As part of the initiative to transform the island, China’s State Immigration Administration (SIA) issued a 30 days visa-free policy for international tourists from 59 countries, which includes the U.S., United Kingdom, and Canada, to enter Hainan Island commencing May 1st, 2018.[3] For foreign tourists taking advantage of this visa-free policy for sightseeing in Hainan, they are permitted to stay within the province but not to other areas of China.
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Home purchase regulations
Following the announcement by President Xi to open up the country to international tourists and establishing the island as a free-trade port, the island that have often been nicknamed as “China’s Hawaii” became hotspot for attracting capital and investment, especially in its real estate sector. The prevent an overheated housing market, the government usually will implement policy to restrict buy and sell within the housing market through various ways to curb speculative investors that often purchase homes for the purpose of quickly selling it in the market. From the demand side, policies usually center around the following areas:
- Mortgage: increase the percentage of down payments when purchasing a new home
- Sale of homes: increase the minimum amount of time in which new homeowners need to hold the property before re-sale
- Hukou: limit purchase of homes for out-of-province hukou-holders
“On March 31, Hainan imposed a ban on non-locals buying a second home in the province and stipulated a 70 per cent down payment requirement.”[4] There is also a ban of transfer of residential property ownership within five years of purchasing date in certain cities on the island. In addition, for non-locals purchasing their second home within certain regions of the island, the purchaser must provide a record proving that they have been contributing to Hainan’s social security pension for at least five years, up from two years previously.
Reference:
[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/china-hukou-and-marriage/article35716028/
[2] http://www.ehainan.gov.cn/2018-04/18/c_217139.htm
[3] http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/china-new-visa-free-policy-for-hainan-island/
[4] https://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/2142036/plans-transform-hainan-chinas-largest-free-trade-zone-put