Therefore, integrating the realty registration responsibilities is an important part of transforming government functions and a necessary requirement in improving the market economy and establishing a modern market system. By providing "one-stop" services, the government can simplify procedures and reduce the burden on individuals and enterprises.

Housing regulation

Among different items of realty, housing attracts the most attention. Therefore, the unified realty registration system has aroused discussions on housing market control, information transparency and social fairness.

Zhu says although the realty registration system itself is not a measure of housing market control, it has the biggest impact on the housing market.

Soaring housing prices and corruption cases involving housing in recent years have led to widespread public discontent. Some people hold that the unified realty registration system will expose hidden housing-related corruption, and will make an immediate impact on promoting social fairness and combating abuse.

A single information-sharing platform will also curb the incentive to invest in the housing sector. Particularly, those with high off-the-books income may no longer choose housing as an investment channel.

The Everbright report points out that the integration of the realty registration responsibilities may be the first step in establishing a long-lasting housing market control mechanism. "We believe a unified realty registration system will help clarify farmers' right to housing and land, boost realty transactions between urban and rural areas and provide basic information for housing market control and property tax," said the report.

Thorny problems

When promulgating the Real Right Law in 2007, China vowed to integrate the realty registration system. Six years have passed and the system has not yet been established. Han Changji, a researcher on real estate industry with CIConsulting, a Shenzhen-based consulting firm, said the main reason is that registration responsibilities are scattered, making registration a complicated procedure with high costs. Different places have different technology, platforms and staff quality. Since it involves too many interests, some localities and departments may be reluctant to cooperate.

"The biggest difficulty in establishing a unified registration system is that it involves personal property or privacy, therefore some people may be unwilling to cooperate. This is because Chinese are traditionally reluctant to reveal their property and the public may be concerned about the risks of leaking personal property information," Han said. According to him, unified registration will touch on the interests of some people who don't like to disclose such properties. Lack of cooperation by some localities, difficulties in the disclosure of personal information of government officials and cumbersome basic data reorganization will present challenges to the implementation of the unified realty registration system.

Han said the new leadership has taken several steps to transform government functions. By streamlining administration, delegating power to lower levels and innovating administrative management methods, it has showed its resolve to reduce corporate burdens and increase market vigor. The related departments now need to make efforts to ensure orderly and stable progress in integrating realty registration.

Tan Jun, an official from the China Land Science Society, said the major difficulty in implementing unified land registration is integrating the registration of land and housing, because it requires a reorganization of the functions of land and housing departments. It will also take one or two years to unify the classification standards of land and information networks in different places.

Tan believed besides reorganizing government functions, integration of realty registration also requires related departments to deliver their registration information to the department of land and resources and help ensure the information is authentic, complete and reliable. But the process itself cannot be finished in a short time. Without a lot of time investments and efforts, the unified realty registration may not yield satisfactory results.

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