China property market digest, Feb 1-18

(For a previous digest, please see )

BEIJING Feb 20 (Reuters) - Here is a look at the latest news, numbers and more from China's real estate market.

The property sector is a pillar of the Chinese economy, accounting for about 10 percent of GDP. In response to soaring prices, the government has taken an array of measures since late 2009 to curb growth in the sector, but the delicate application of economic levers has raised separate concerns that the government moves could destabilise the market.

On Saturday, the central bank cut the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve, boosting lending capacity in a bid to crank up credit creation.

REUTERS NEWS

Feb 18 - China's home prices fell in January from December, marking the fourth monthly fall in a row and showing that the policy-driven property market downturn is deepening, which will add to worries about a hard landing in the world's second-largest economy.

Feb 16 - Wins Investment, the fund arm of Chinese property developer Gemdale, says it plans to double funds under management to take advantage of a government clampdown on property financing that could see smaller developers starved of funds.

Feb 15 - ATAbax Investment Management, a Chinese real estate fund, plans to invest all 3 billion yuan ($476 million) it manages in the next 18 months to help plug in the financing gap or buy assets from debt-ridden developers, some of which will be ousted by the deepening market downturn, its President Greg Peng said.

Feb 15 - Chinese authorities are moving to tighten oversight on illegal land development following a spike in land abuse cases last year, some of which garnered national attention and sparked violent standoffs.

Feb 13 - China's third-tier city of Wuhu, in eastern Anhui province, has suspended a plan to ease property control restrictions, four days after the proposal.

Feb 7 - Banks must provide loans to first-home buyers, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said, the first clear call to support mortgage lending since starting a policy tightening cycle to calm the property market two years ago.

Feb 7 - China has released a series of measures in an effort to broaden funding sources and increase investment in affordable housing projects in 2012, the Ministry of Finance said.

Feb 2 - China Overseas Land & Investment, the largest Chinese developer by market value, aims for sales revenue of HK$80 billion this year, the same as last year's target but down from last year's actual revenues of HK$87 billion.

Feb 2 - Jones Lang LaSalle Inc, the world's No 2 property consultancy, plans to open two more offices and add 750 people in China this year, building business with local investors and governments, said Alastair Hughes, the company's head of Asia.

DATA

- Beijing's land sales revenues in 2011 reached 123.4 billion yuan and local fiscal bureau cut the target for 2012 to 90 billion yuan.

- Beijing failed to hit its annual land supply target in 2011, for the first time in three years. The city sold 5,970 hectare of land last year, 92 percent of its goal. The target for 2012 will be between 5,700 hectare and 6,000 hectare, according to local land bureau.

- Revenues from a mainden property tax reached 2.21 billion yuan in 2011 in Shanghai and the municipal government aims for 2.25 billion yuan income from it in 2012.

CHINESE PRESS

Feb 13 - Political advisers in southern China's Hainan province urged local authorities to levy taxes on vacant homes to curb speculation and cool the island's overheated property market. (China Daily)

Feb 8 - Shanghai officials expect tweaks its standards of ordinary homes and threshold for economic homes, a kind of affordable housing, will warm up property sales in March. (Shanghai Securities Journal)

Feb 7 - Anyone in Shenzhen selling "economic homes," a kind of state-subsidized affordable homes which the beneficiaries buy at much lower prices than that in the market, must hand back 70 percent of the capital gains to the government. (Nanfang Daily)

Feb 6 - China's securities regulator reiterated its suspension of all initial public offerings for property firms. (Beijing Times)

Feb 3 - China's powerful National Development and Reform Commission tightened its rules and explicitly forbad foreign banks, either their incorporated arms or joint ventures, to extend mortgage loans for foreigners buying homes in China. (Oriental Morning Post)

IN THEIR WORDS

- "We have two targets to reach through property tightening measures: One is to drive home price back to a reasonable level, and the other is to promote a long-term steady and healthy development of the real estate market." (Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in early Feb)

- "Longfor has very big turnover now and will use a lot of land for construction in 2012. The company will replenish (land reserves) when needed, but will do it very cautiously." (Qing Lihong, chief marketing officer of Longfor Properties, said in an online chat) (Reporting by Langi Chiang and Jason Subler; Editing by John Mair)