Chinanews, Beijing, Dec. 7 - In a month, a fully furnished quadrangle house will be open for investors in the Yufang Lane in Dongcheng District, Beijing. This is the first courtyard house that will be preserved under the “macro-cycling” policy taken by Dongcheng district government.
By implementing the “macro-cycling” policy, the Dongcheng district government introduced real estate developers in the preservation of Beijing’s traditional courtyard houses. Under the new policy, most of the courtyard houses in Beijing will no longer be dismantled. Instead, the government will relocate the original residents of the courtyard houses and furnish them completely to draw new investors. By taking this measure, it is expected that large areas of courtyard houses in Beijing will remain.
Due to the large renovation work done to the old downtown areas, the number of traditional courtyard houses in Beijing has declined substantially. According to a recent survey, there are only 16,000 courtyard houses remaining in Beijing now, which cover 3 million square meters in total, accounting for only 15% of the total area of courtyard houses in the early 1950s. On the other hand, due to historical reasons, the property ownership of these houses is very complicated, therefore most of the courtyard houses can not be put on sale.
In 2004, Chinese government issued a policy aimed to loosen the restrictions on potential buyers of these courtyard houses, allowing foreigners to buy the houses. At the same time, the government remitted the taxes and simplified the procedures in buying these houses. The new policy stimulated the demand for these houses in the market and also attracted many real estate developers to join in, while previously, only intermediate agencies were involved in the transactions of these houses. Some courtyard houses were even rebuilt based on the wishes of the buyer.
At present, most of the courtyard houses in Beijing are located in the four old districts within the Second Ring Road. Among these courtyard houses, those located in Dongcheng and Xicheng districts are most expensive. In the scenic area of Shichahai in Xicheng District, for example, the courtyard houses there are usually sold at 30,000 - 40,000 yuan per square meter.
