(ECNS) -- Authorities in Beijing on Tuesday ordered 15 major websites to withdraw housing information containing false advertising or breaching rules before midnight today, as the city continues to address an overheating housing market.
The misleading information included references to "xuequfang", literally a school district house, dual-purpose buildings with residential and commercial units, unlimited potential for value appreciation, and buying one floor and getting two, which were frequently used by real estate agents to lure customers.
The ban on false advertising aims to curb speculation, price-rigging and the manipulation of housing resources also showed the government's determination to make the house market more transparent, said Xie Yifeng, a real estate researcher, who added that more websites publishing housing information would be subject to supervision in future.
Searches on the websites of HomeLink Beijing, 5i5j.com and fang.com for some of the above-mentioned words returned no results on Tuesday night.
Yan Yuejin, a senior researcher at E-house China R&D Institute, said regulating the conduct of real estate agents in Beijing would help ensure all information regarding housing resources was true. Other cities may follow suit, it was added.
