At the executive meeting of the Station Council held last week, whether to resume some policies was decided. It was decided at the meeting that the eight preferential policies will continue to be effective, including the policies encouraging electric appliances to go to countryside and exchanging for new appliances with old ones. There was one modification with the second-house transaction preferential policy that is worth noting. That is, the time limit of exemption of housing transaction tax will be extended from two years to five years. Other related housing policies will remain unchanged. So if a house is to be transacted within five years of ownership, the seller has to pay the transaction tax.
According to the preferential policy released at the end of last year, if a person wants to sell his house of below two-year ownership he only has to pay the transaction tax that is calculated based on the balance of the sales income and his purchase price.  If you want to sell your house that you have owned for over two years, you will be totally exempted from the transaction tax. Now, however, with the modification of this policy, if a person wants to sell his house that he has owned for three to five years, he has to pay more transaction tax.
Yang Ming, deputy chief supervisor, Nantian Property Operation Center
If the house of over 140 square meters is to be transacted within three-to-five year ownership, the owner has to pay 5.6% of the selling price as the transaction tax. That means if the house is to be transacted at two million yuan, the seller has to turn over 110,000 yuan as tax to the country.  
Insiders say that the adjustment of the policy this time will have little impact on those who are buying houses to meet their living needs. It means that the government is doing its utmost to guarantee the housing needs of the general public. However the policy adjustment will curb the zeal of those housing speculators who want to earn profits quickly by buying and selling houses, as the transaction costs have increased by 5.6%. As the year end is approaching, those who have reached the deal can still catch the late bus and have the formalities handled. Those having not signed contracts will not be able to seize the time. As other preferential policies remain unchanged, this policy adjustment is not expected to cause a fluctuation of the housing market next year