China News Weekly reporter/Min Jie
During the Dragon Boat Festival, CCTV released a news of about 8 minutes. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the national unified basic platform for real estate registration information management has now achieved national networking.
The Ministry of Natural Resources also provided a set of data. Currently, 3,001 real estate registration service halls and 38,000 windows have been established in 335 cities and 2,853 counties and districts across the country. More than 80,000 front-line registration staff provide real estate registration services to more than 300,000 enterprises and the public on average every day.
From the news itself, this is more like a follow-up message from the Ministry of Natural Resources on the "real estate registration" schedule. The predecessor of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the former Ministry of Land and Resources once announced a timetable in 2014: Establish a basic system for unified registration in 2014; promote the transition to the implementation of the unified registration system in 2015; fully implement the unified registration system in 2016; before 2018, the basic platform for real estate registration information management was put into operation, and the real estate unified registration system was basically formed.
Previously, many media had worried that the national network of real estate registration would cause "difficult birth". This news is actually a response from the Ministry of Natural Resources to the outside world: the unified registration of real estate is being carried out as scheduled and steadily.
Real estate registration has been launched in 2014 for four years and has attracted the attention of the whole society from the very beginning. However, the society’s concern about real estate registration is not about the “registration” itself, but the possible derivative effect it may have: Will this tool affect the rise and fall of housing prices? Does it mean that the real estate tax is already in place? Is it even possible to become a "anti-corruption weapon"?
What is the difficulty in connecting the country?
Real estate registration nationwide network. If you explain its significance in one sentence, it is to break the "information island".
Real estate involves a wide range of areas. In addition to land and houses, it also includes forests, arable land, forest land, grassland, and even sea areas. It not only includes urban construction land, but also rural homestead land.
Such a huge data information has been in a scattered and divided state before.
Previously, there were at least 6 departments in China that implemented real estate registration, and the housing and urban-rural development departments were responsible for the registration of urban housing ownership; the land and resources departments were responsible for the registration of collective land ownership , state-owned land use rights, collective construction land use rights and homestead use rights ; the agricultural department was responsible for the registration of the contract management rights of arable land and grassland; the forestry department was responsible for the registration of forest land ownership and use rights; the fishery department was responsible for the registration of the breeding rights of water surfaces and tidal flats; the marine department was responsible for the registration of the use rights of sea areas and uninhabited islands.
If information scattered in multiple places cannot be shared, to some extent, it will become the "private property" of a certain department, forming information islands. Why is
difficult to unify? There are both technical, institutional and conceptual reasons.
Before the unified registration was launched, there has been controversy over the years which department will conduct unified registration of real estate, and both the real estate management department and the land management department want to obtain this authority. The relatively consistent view of the domestic property rights legal community is that according to the idea of "integration of real estate and land, and houses can go anywhere", it is "the general trend" to grant unified registration authority to the land management department. After all, real estate such as houses, grasslands, forests and other real estate are all attachments to the land.
So, in 2013, this work finally broke the ice after many years of dilemma. The State Council Executive Meeting held on November 20 of that year decided to integrate the responsibilities of real estate registration and establish the unified real estate registration system . At the central level, the Ministry of Land and Resources is responsible for guiding and supervising the unified registration responsibilities of real estate such as land, houses, grasslands, forest land, and sea areas across the country, and realizing the "four unifications" of registration agencies, registration books, registration basis and information platforms. It is not theoretically difficult to achieve "four unifications" and on the basis of unification, it is actually not easy, but in the logic of actual operation, it is actually not easy.
A case that can be used as a reference is that the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development once promoted the "National Real Estate Information Networking System". The information networking within only one department has encountered many problems.
In June 2012, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development initially completed the "National Real Estate Information Networking System", completed the networking work with more than 60 large and medium-sized cities and real estate hot cities, and formed a unified database.
In February 2013, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued a notice requiring the number of cities connected to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to reach 500 in June 2013. However, by July 2013, the goal of connecting housing information in 500 cities was not achieved.
Jia Kang, former director of the Institute of Finance and chief economist of Huaxia New Supply Economics Research Institute, once commented: "There is no problem in the technology of real estate information networking. Information has become various silos, not technical issues, but some departments and localities take into account relevant interests and have the urge to control intentionally."
funding is also one of the reasons that restrict the progress of work. The main implementing of this work is in local governments. Taking Jiangsu Province as an example, according to the People's Daily, Jiangsu Province's housing information networking information docking is divided into two modes: " Wuxi model" and "Nanjing model". The "Wuxi Model" is a unified operation platform and a unified system for cities, districts and counties; the "Nanjing Model" refers to the use of different platforms in cities, districts and counties, but the data standards must be unified and finally entered the city's "summary database".
No matter which mode is used, it is necessary to complete the digitization of paper files in the house and the scanning and entry of historical data. This process includes measurement costs, remuneration for registered personnel, etc. Then, the city's information docking began. The data integration process included the cost of purchasing the platform and the cost of training personnel.
The report of China Youth Daily once quoted an official from a prefecture-level city in Hebei as saying: "Local governments do not have the motivation to connect with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. When using funds to promote the Internet, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development must also be approved by the Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance. The amount of funds connected to the Internet in 500 cities is not small."
Lou Jianbo, director of the Real Estate Law Research Center of Peking University, proposed in an interview with the media: "Whether the money for data networking is given to the local government or the central government, this question seems to have never been raised."
"Three major expectations"
real estate registration information realizes the national networking, which is a symbolic time node.
However, there is actually a great degree of differentiation and dislocation of how to interpret this "signature meaning". Scholars in the related fields of
tend to understand from the basic meaning of the system itself. However, what the people are most concerned about is: Is the national network for real estate registration preparing for the imposition of real estate tax? Will it affect housing prices? After the real estate information is transparent, will the real estate information of corrupt officials be exposed to the sun?
Real estate tax, affecting housing prices, and helping to fight corruption. For these three major "public expectations", it can be said that there is more or less connection with the national network of real estate registration, but it cannot directly "satisfie expectations".
has issued property tax, which is the closest relationship with the national networking of real estate registration.
Whether it is the introduction of property tax or the administrative regulation of real estate, it needs to be based on the mastery of comprehensive information. But in fact, we can see that real estate regulation that has lasted for more than ten years is always difficult to achieve the expected results, and sometimes it even deviates from the target completely and increases the more it adjusts. One of the fundamental reasons behind it is that the government does not have sufficient and comprehensive knowledge of the real estate market.
National networking for real estate registration can improve this problem well. If the government can make more accurate judgments on the housing market, it will help to introduce effective policies more targetedly. Similarly, based on the "big data" of the national real estate market, it is more likely to scientifically plan the introduction of property tax, including whether property tax should be introduced? When will it be launched? How to collect?
The significance of the national networking of real estate registration is to provide data support for housing system construction, playing a prerequisite and basic role.
However, whether real estate tax is issued ultimately does not depend on when real estate information will be connected nationwide.
Different departments in the country have actually refuted the rumors about this many times.Hu Cunzhi, former deputy minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources, had previously written an article pointing out that unified real estate registration is not a prerequisite for imposing real estate tax. Under the decentralized registration model, reforms to impose real estate tax can also be carried out. Whether real estate tax is levied, when it will be levied, and how it should be levied, should be stipulated by formulating relevant tax laws. He made it clear that the purpose of implementing unified real estate registration is not to reduce housing prices and disclose property.
Former director of the Market Monitoring Department of the Real Estate Registration Center of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Lu Jing also explained that the purpose of real estate tax is mainly to regulate supply and demand relationships, optimize resource allocation, adjust income distribution, prevent real estate market bubbles, and stabilize the operation of the real estate market. The unified real estate registration system is actually to encourage and protect people from holding industries. The original intention of its system design is not linked to the imposition of real estate tax, nor is it to impose real estate tax. "Although unified real estate registration objectively helps to understand the real estate assets and lay a solid foundation for the introduction of real estate tax, unified real estate registration is not a necessary link and condition for imposing real estate tax."
Although the national network of real estate registration has laid an important foundation for the issuance of property tax, the introduction of property tax fundamentally falls within the scope of tax legislation.
According to the principle of statutory tax, as an important part of tax reform, the collection of property tax needs to be completed. In a signed article published in the "Guidebook for the Report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China", Xiao Jie pointed out the steps in the implementation of real estate tax: "In accordance with the principle of 'legislation first, full authorization, and step-by-step promotion', promote the legislation and implementation of real estate tax."
Real estate registration helps fight corruption, and this conclusion is not too big a problem. However, there is also a difference from the way people imagine.
Many people believe that if real estate information is connected to the Internet, you can know how many houses the officials have. "Corrupt officials and real estate speculators are confused." However, this idea is indeed "very stupid and naive".
In fact, there are strict regulations on who can query and what purpose it is used for the national real estate information that has been connected to the Internet.
According to the current "Interim Provisions on Real Estate Registration", inquiry of real estate information, only rights holders and interested parties can query it. If the judicial department needs to query, it must also provide the purpose and certificate of the query. If the registered personnel leak information, they will also bear corresponding legal responsibilities.
Moreover, according to past experience, information query is generally limited to "checking people with houses", while "checking people with houses" is strictly controlled. In other words, even the right holder or the interested person can only query the information and personnel information behind the specific real estate, and it is impossible to query the real estate information held by him or her through a certain person.
Some scholars have said: "Unrestricted permission for others to query and copy real estate registration information at will not only violate the laws of our country, but also does not help in anti-corruption. It will also distort the functions of the real estate registration system and infringe on the privacy rights and other legitimate rights and interests of others."
However, from a judicial perspective, for judicial and anti-corruption needs, the state judicial organs can indeed find out how many real estate there is in a person's name with the help of real estate registration inquiry information, so as to "check people with houses" and "check people with people with rounds". This will undoubtedly play a role in deterring corrupt elements. There is an obvious misunderstanding of the view that real estate registration is regarded as the "house price nemesis".
As early as 2013, when real estate registration was launched, SOHO China Chairman Pan Shiyi posted on Weibo, saying, "This is a good policy. If implemented this year, housing prices will fall soon." However, nearly five years later, he may also realize that the problem is not that simple. After the news of the national networking of real estate registration was reported, Pan Shiyi posted a long Weibo post, which mentioned: the simplest, most efficient and fair management is transparency and openness. The management of the real estate market is no exception. But this road is long and far.
House prices themselves are affected by various factors, including the economic situation, financial environment, supply and demand relationship, and policy factors.
Economist Ma Guangyuan pointed out that the purpose of real estate information networking is by no means to reduce housing prices. "The stability of housing prices is a very complex project, which requires all-round efforts in institutional construction. It is unrealistic to pin the decline in housing prices on the unified registration of real estate."
It is undeniable that the national networking of real estate information may affect market expectations to a certain extent. But the extent of this impact is actually difficult to judge. Especially in some hot cities, in the face of a market with fundamental "supply and demand imbalance" in terms of fundamentals, this impact on expectations can be as small as negligible.
