Singles in Guangzhou cannot apply for affordable housing as the city's draft regulation on housing states that citizens can only apply as a family, reported the local paper New Express Daily on Monday.

Boasting comparatively low prices, affordable housing, funded by the government, aims to solve the housing problems of moderate to low-income people. For this reason only families that meet certain requirements, and can be defined as a low-income household, can apply to purchase the special housing.

According to the draft regulation, which went into effect on December 18, single people are not taken into consideration, instead, people should apply as a family unit, including a husband and wife, parents and unwed children.

In response to some public concern that some couples may intentionally get a divorce in order to buy another affordable house, the regulation states that all applicant families must have every family member sign their name on the contract.

The draft regulation also stipulates that affordable housing can only be sold five years after the day of signing the purchasing contract. Previously, families could only sell their affordable housings five years after the day they received their property ownership certificate, which usually took some two years to come through.

An additional clause in the draft also demands that families should list their property valued at over 800 yuan ($US110) in their application, which includes real estate, any privately owned business, stocks or bonds, antiques, expensive jewellery etc.

(CRI January 2, 2008)