國土部表態緩解土地使用權到期疑慮
China’s land ministry will automatically renew residential leases set to expire next year, temporarily dispelling homeowners’ concerns about an erosion of their property rights.
中國國土資源部將對明年到期的住房土地使用權自動續期，這暫時消除了房屋所有者對於產權縮水的擔憂。
In an announcement at the weekend, the land ministry said that 20-year residential property leases in the eastern city of Wenzhou would be automatically extended without charge, ending speculation that homeowners would face steep renewal fees equivalent to one-third of their property’s value.
在上週末的一份聲明中，中國國土資源部表示，針對中國東部城市溫州的20年住房土地使用權到期問題，不需要提出續期申請，不收取費用。這結束了外界的猜測，即房屋所有者將面臨高額的土地出讓金，占房產價值的三分之一。
Ever since Deng Xiaoping’s landmark economic reforms were introduced in the early 1980s, allowing people to buy land and property for the first time since the 1949 Communist revolution, titles in the world’s most populous country have been limited by fixed-term leases.
自從鄧小平於上世紀80年代初開展里程碑式的經濟改革以來（這是自1949年建國以來中國首次允許人們購買土地和房產），這個全球人口最多的國家的土地所有權一直受到固定租期的限制。
The first of these to expire, 20-year leases for residential land in Wenzhou, were a closely watched test of how the renewals would be handled. An earlier suggestion by local officials that renewal fees would be set at one-third of a property’s value sparked an outcry amongst the country’s homeowners, many of whom have become dollar millionaires thanks to the huge run-up in urban real estate prices over recent years.
溫州的20年土地使用權的住宅用地是首個到期的住宅用地，受到外界的密切關注，它將測試中國政府如何處理土地使用權到期問題。早些時候，一些地方政府官員建議，續期費用將定在房地產價值的三分之一，這引發了中國房屋所有者的強烈抗議，最近幾年，城市房價的飆升讓很多房屋所有者變成了百萬美元富翁。
The intervention by China’s housing minister, Wang Guanghua, highlights the political sensitivity of the issue, especially at a time when middle-class concerns over environmental pollution and an increasingly repressive political climate are exacerbating capital flight.
國土資源部副部長王廣華強調了這個問題的政治敏感性，特別是在中產階級對環境污染和日益嚴厲的政治環境的擔憂正加劇資金抽逃之際。
Most property leases run for 70 years, making Wenzhou’s looming expirations an exception that could have been left for the local government to handle. But China’s wealthy and middle-class urban homeowners are the ruling Communist party’s most important constituency. Nationwide, 90 per cent of households own their own homes.
多數住宅建設用地使用權爲70年，這讓溫州的住房土地使用權到期問題變成一個例外，這個問題本可以留給地方政府解決。但中國的富有中產階級城市房屋所有者是執政黨共產黨的最重要的支持者。從全國來看，90%的家庭擁有自己的住房。
Mr Wang’s announcement, however, does not signal a final resolution of the issue. The minister said the government was studying a new law that would regulate lease renewals nationwide.
然而，王廣華的聲明並不表明這個問題得到了最終解決。國土資源部表示，政府正在研究新的法律，來監管全國的土地使用權續期問題。
The shorter lease tenures were introduced in Wenzhou in the 1990s to make properties more affordable.
上世紀90年代，爲了讓人們買得起房，溫州推出了較短年限的住宅用地使用權。
Nationwide, soaring property prices have forced local governments to introduce a series of measures to reduce speculative buying. A recent central government conference on economic issues for the coming years said that “homes are for living in, not for speculating with”.
全國房價的飆升迫使地方政府推出一系列舉措，以減少投機性購房。最近一次中央政府經濟工作會議對2017年的經濟工作做出了全面部署，會議稱“房子是用來住的，不是用來炒的”。
