Real estate bubble unlikely to burst: Pan Shiyi   

潘石屹：中国楼市泡沫或将于三五年内消化

SOHO中国董事长潘石屹6日在此间称，尽管中国的房地产存在泡沫，但随着城市化的发展，泡沫很有可能在三五年内会消化。

Boao (CNS) -- The bubble in China's real estate market will probably deflate in the next three to five years during the process of urbanization, a property magnate said Saturday on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia.

Pan Shiyi, chairman of SOHO China, the country's largest prime office real estate developer, said he believes that under the current growth of China's economy, the bubble is unlikely to burst. "The country's economy is growing well, and so will the real estate industry," he said.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi to describe the market, he said, "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."

Increasing plot ratio is one way to ease the contradiction between land supply and the huge populations of cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, he said.

As for the large areas of empty buildings in Tianjin and Inner Mongolia's Erdos, Pan advised the cities to continue urbanization.

Pan also said that sharply fluctuating home prices and turnover have an impact on the property industry, and should be avoided.

The 20-percent-tax is "improper," Pan said, adding that the property tax and fees should be increased to release more houses into circulation.

He also advised that the business property tax model might be applied to residential housing.

The government should focus on providing indemnificatory apartments, leaving others to market forces, Pan said.