China May Expand Trial Real Estate Tax: Journal

China may expand a pilot real estate tax to more cities such as Shenzhen and those of the tropical island Hainan, which have experienced rapid gains in home prices, the China Securities Journal reported citing analysts. The readout of a recent meeting of four ministries including the Ministry of Finance said to "actively and steadily promote real estate tax", more urgent than the previous expression of "steadily promoting", which could mean pilot expansion may come before the legislation, the newspaper said citing Jia Kang, dean of China Academy of New Supply-side Economics. The real estate market in Shenzhen is overheated, while Hainan's resource allocation should be more market-oriented given it's being developed into a free-trade port, the newspaper cited Jia as saying. Currently, only Shanghai and Chongqing have applied a pilot real estate tax.