Beat China’s housing ban: marry an estate agent

ESTATE agents have a reputation for being determined dealmakers, but one Chinese realtor took it to a whole new level by marrying four women — including a 70-year-old — to help them onto the local property ladder.

The Shanghai agent married, then quickly divorced, the women to allow them to circumvent strict property laws which seek to cool prices in China’s booming cities.

The agent, named in reports as a Mr Wang, and said to be aged about 30, pocketed more than £8 000 (about R134 000) from each transaction.

Under Chinese regulations, buying property in the big coastal cities is often forbidden for people who live in the country’s less-prosperous areas.

In Shanghai, investors must first pay city taxes for five years before they are allowed to buy property there — unless they marry someone who is officially a local resident. It was a market opportunity that seemed too good to resist for Mr Wang. “Once the paperwork is put through, Wang applies for a divorce and puts himself on the market again,” the state-run Global Times said. But there is a risk for buyers, the newspaper added. “Until the divorce is finalised, Wang is legally entitled to half the property’s value.”

Last week, the central bank ordered banks to crack down on sham divorces, where people get divorced so they can pose as first-time buyers.