Tomson Group Ltd, developer of Tomson Riviera in Pudong - the most expensive apartments on China's mainland - may face penalties in a city crackdown against illegal practices in the local property market, Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday.
However, Fang Lei, a spokeswoman with the Shanghai Housing and Land Resources Administration Bureau, told Shanghai Daily yesterday that no official results of the campaign have been announced. She said the media report was not from official sources.
Tomson Riviera, in Lujiazui, began marketing apartments from 110,000 yuan (US$14,667) per square meter in 2005.
The bureau said it listed its apartments at artificially high prices, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing unidentified bureau sources.
According to www.fangdi.cn, an official Website tracking the city's property deals, only three Tomson Riviera apartments have been sold in the past two years at an average price of about 130,000 yuan per square meter, accounting for less than two percent of space in the complex.
Moreover, the listing price is three times more expensive than the average price for nearby projects, the report said.
Feng Zhongliang, a manager with Tomson Riviera, couldn't be reached for comment by Shanghai Daily yesterday.
The local land and housing watchdog launched a campaign in June to crack down on all illegal property practices to regulate the booming sector.
Under the campaign, any real estate developers in Shanghai found to have reserved apartments for speculation purposes will face the possibility of losing their license.
Developers who refuse to sell completed apartments without sound reasons will be considered speculators, and will receive a bad mark on their credit records.
Those who deliberately ask for abnormally high prices to delay housing sales in the hope of making more profits in the future will be targeted.
And unauthorized approval of real estate projects and abuses of power for personal gains will be closely monitored and severely punished, the bureau said earlier.
Investigations on three local property developers, including Tomson Group's Tomson Riviera, began on June 6.