BEIJING, Mar. 4 -- Crooked developers and real estate brokers will now pay a higher price for schemes designed to jack up property prices.

    The Shanghai Housing and Land Administrative Bureau announced yesterday that it will revoke the business license of anyone caught inflating housing prices through fraudulent sales reports. At the same time, the bureau ordered a half dozen developers accused of contract fraud to halt sales at their projects until an investigation is completed.

    Development company executives who are caught cheating will be banned from working in real estate and related industries for five years, the bureau said yesterday.

    Similar punishments will be levied against sales people who are found violating the rule.

    Authorities say some unscrupulous real estate representatives are giving regulators fake contracts bearing inflated sales prices in a bid to drive up the prices of the actual deals.

    In some cases, real estate companies have signed contracts with staff members and then canceled the paperwork after filing it with authorities.

    Starting last April, Shanghai real estate developers were required to report their sales to the housing bureau, which then posted the information on its Website in a move to give buyers better market information.

    The bureau has punished two local developers for malfeasance since the beginning of this year, in addition to the six it ordered to suspend operations yesterday.

    The local land and housing regulator also set new thresholds for the real estate agencies that list their transactions on the city's second-hand housing Website.

    Only agencies with registered capital of more than 1 million yuan (US$120,482) and more than 10 outlets are qualified to post their information online.

    Agencies also must employ at least 15 professional sales agents, the bureau said.

    So far, 19 agencies have received certification to post their contact information, including telephone numbers, locations and agents' names, on the official Website.     

    (Source: Shanghai Daily news)