After 171: An Update on New Real Estate Regulations and Policies Since Issuance of Opinion 171

In an Update circulated last July (New Policies Affecting Foreign Investment in Chinese Real Estate,

July 2006), we reported on promulgation on July 12, 2006 of the Opinions on Regulating the Entry into and the Administration of Foreign Investment in the Real Estate Market (?????????? ?????????) (“Opinion 171”) by the Ministry of Construction (“MOC”), the Ministry of

Commerce (“MOFCOM”), the National Development and Reform Commission, The People’s Bank of China, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (“SAFE”). Opinion 171 sets out far-reaching new policies governing foreign investment in real estate in China. As a policy document, Opinion 171 was short on specifics, leaving to the

relevant regulators the job of implementing and clarifying these policies through legislation.

The seven months since promulgation of Opinion 171 have been a busy period for China’s legislators and policy makers. Not only have new regulations and policies been issued to implement Opinion 171, but the State Council and its various ministries have taken other steps to more tightly regulate the real estate sector. We discuss a number of these developments in this Update.