Beijing to release more land for 1.5m homes: Xinhua

[SHANGHAI] Beijing will release 6,000 hectares of land by 2021 to fulfil market demand for 1.5 million residential housing units, the Xinhua news agency cited the city's housing authority as saying late on Friday.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning and Land and Resources Management said it would supply 1,200 hectares this year, which will be able to hold 300,000 units of residential housing.

Of the land supplied over the next five years, 70 per cent will be used to build homes that have property rights, while the remainder will be used for rental homes. A mix of state-owned and collectively-owned construction land will be used, the authority said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged cities under pressure from soaring home prices to boost land supply appropriately while authorities take targeted measures to fight an inventory overhang in smaller cities.

To alleviate pollution and congestion in Beijing, the government last week announced a new special economic zone in the heavily polluted province of Hebei where industries and other "non-capital functions" can be relocated.

REUTERS