Ineligible claims for low-price housing

By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-17 09:23

GUANGZHOU: The municipal land and housing authority of Guangzhou is investigating claims that numerous ineligible underage applicants somehow got onto the candidate's list for the city's fixed-price apartments.

"Our administration is verifying whether the claim is true or not; and if it is true, they will continue to look into why such things could have happened," an official with the city's land and housing administration, who identified himself as Xu, told China Daily.

The issue came to light after the list was made public and a citizen noticed that, according to their identification numbers, at least 17 of the applicants were too young to qualify for housing assistance.

Male applicants must be at least 25 years old, and females 23 years old.

Guangzhou's fixed-price apartments are for citizens who have not yet owned an apartment and whose annual pre-tax income is below 100,000 yuan ($14,600).

A total of 3,114 applicants joined the "lucky draw" for 640 fixed-price apartments and the result was announced on the official website of the municipal housing authority for public feedback.

Fixed-price apartments are generally 30 percent cheaper than other apartments in the same area. The city's latest property projects for such apartments are priced at 4,000 yuan per sq m.

It's not the first time fraud has been reported in the application for low-priced apartments.

Six ineligible applicants in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, were spotted on the shortlist for low-priced apartments in June.