China Real Estate Restrictions Reach the Afterlife

(Beijing) — Life for aspiring second-home buyers has gotten tougher lately in China. Now one city not far from Shanghai is adding a new twist: making home buying harder for the next life.

The government in Suzhou has told local funeral parlors to turn away out-of-towners wanting to buy plots in the public cemeteries, according to a report in the official Suzhou Daily. A local official told the paper the step was necessary to ensure that local residents could spend their afterlife in Suzhou.

The restriction on out-of-town buyers — apparently a first in China — comes as dozens of cities in China in recent weeks have rolled out measures requiring bigger down payments on second-home purchases in a bid to curb soaring prices.

Suzhou, 100 kilometers northwest of Shanghai, is known for Chinese gardens that date back a thousand years. It’s become a favorite burial place for people from Shanghai, both because many have roots there and because Shanghai itself is running short of cemetery space.

The ties between the cities are on vivid display each year on Tomb-Sweeping Day, when tens of thousands of Shanghai people head to Suzhou, either by train or by car, to visit graves and pray to their ancestors. To try to deal with this year’s expected crush on April 4, Suzhou authorities opened eight bus routes connecting train stations and major graveyards.

Before the ban on out-of-towner sales, the city was projected to run out of burial space within decades, the Suzhou Daily said.

Even with the ban, Suzhou won’t find cemetery plots cheap. Already, burial space in Suzhou costs more than double the average price of a similar amount of space in a second-hand house, about 50,000 yuan ($7.255) versus 23,000 yuan, according to fang.com, which provides property market data.

Contact Dong Tongjian (tongjiandong@caixin.com)