ON SUNDAY, the Beijing municipal government further regulated the market for commercial properties, prohibiting developers from selling such properties under construction to individuals. Banks have also been instructed to suspend the issuing of loans to individuals who have signed contracts to buy already constructed buildings for business use. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

In Beijing, only those with a local residence registration, or people who have paid individual income tax for 60 successive months, are allowed to buy residential houses. In order to circumvent the legal limit, some developers construct buildings for business use, but actually sell them to individuals for residential use.

Such deeds are undoubtedly illegal. And commercial properties are inconvenient to those who buy them for residential use because their utility services are more expensive than normal. Worse, the properties are designed for business use, and the developers must change the designs in order for them to be suitable for residential use, which can involve safety risks.