Brawling Beijing Real Estate Brokers Caught on Tape – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | August 21, 2012

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• Brawling Beijing Real Estate Brokers Caught on Tape – Agency Tag Team

  COMPETITION is fierce in China’s real estate market. So fierce, it sometimes gets out of control. Staff from rival real estate agencies have been caught slugging out their differences in a bloody brawl on the streets of the capital Beijing. Fists of fury rained down as more than 20 real well-dressed men came to blows outside the office of one real estate company on a busy city street. The fight was caught on camera by an onlooker with a mobile phone and posted on to Chinese social media sites. Several combatants nursed bloody noses and torn shirts after the all-in, which petered out as police sirens could be heard in the distance.

• House prices rebounding nationwide
  

  More Chinese cities saw home prices rise in July compared with the previous month, as local governments began to loosen property curbs and the central bank loosened credit liquidity due to concerns over the slowing economy.Industry watchers said the dramatic rebound in home prices that sparked panic purchases two years ago is unlikely to be repeated, as the central government reiterated that key real estate control measures such as purchasing limits will not be removed.New home prices rose in 50 of the 70 major cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in July month-on-month, up from 25 in June.Home prices in each of the 50 cities increased no more than 0.7 percent in July compared with the previous month.

• China worries about social fallout of soybean oil price rise

  Construction laborer Yi Jichun has never heard of Illinois or Iowa. But the migrant worker’s favorite comfort food comes straight out of the U.S. Midwest: soybean oil. The world’s biggest consumers of edible oils, Chinese households have developed a taste for the stuff that would make a county fair fry cook proud. Be it a simple stir-fry, poached fish or deep-fried pork ribs, many Chinese diners love their grub covered in an oily sheen. Jugs of the golden liquid make popular gifts for Chinese New Year.

• China housing data drag on Asia markets

  Asian stocks kicked off the trading week on a downbeat note Monday, with Chinese policy makers seen as less inclined to cut interest rates after data showed real estate prices rising in a majority of major cities. The Shanghai Composite Index CN:000001 -0.38% ended down 0.4%, paring a sharper decline that had put the index at a low for the year. The Shenzhen Composite Index edged up 0.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HK:HSI +0.71% fell 0.1%. Analysts said investors reacted negatively to signs that Beijing will continue, or even extend, its property-tightening measures after a government inspection concluded that the housing market was heating up.

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