From Xinhuanet:
With its property prices fluctuating wildly, Shanghai has been designated as a testing ground for a more centralized, and hopefully more effective, vertical land administration system.
This was one of a series of moves, taken last week by central government agencies, to further regulate the land and housing market. It follows public complaints of rising housing prices in major cities and shady deals in the real estate market.
The Ministry of Land and Resources last week pledged that it will rebuild its administrative system according to the central bank model, namely by setting up a certain number of regional bureaus (nine in the ministry’s case) reporting directly to its central office in Beijing.[Full Text]
