Although the trade between home buyers and developers is based on market rules, I believe the buyers have good reasons to ask for rebates. For years, buyers have been in an unfavorable position to bargain with developers, because the demand for housing greatly outnumbers the supply.

If the sale happens when housing prices keep soaring, there won't be so many problems. Nevertheless, once the prices begin to drop, especially when developers offer to cut prices, buyers think their assets have devalued.

It's a common practice for businesses to attract buyers through offering some discounts. When doing this, many retailers would promise to refund buyers who completed their transactions in a specified period of time. It's easy for property developers to follow this business model to appease old customers. From this perspective, the rebate demand is totally reasonable.

Yang Jinxi (National Business Daily): No state or legal regulation or commercial principle requires real estate developers to refund home buyers who suffer losses if house prices drop.

However, it is home buyers who make developers rich. Only when developers have developed credibility among former and potential buyers, can their businesses keep growing. The refunds to previous buyers will help to establish a developer's good image.

When the real estate market reaches a turning point, this sector's traditional way of making huge profits such as by hoarding houses and fixing prices won't be of any help. The state has already started to issue policies to regulate house prices. Farsighted developers should take positive actions to operate their businesses so as to maintain the sound development of the property sector.

Xin Haiguang (The First): So far, there is no law that forbids housing price refunds. From the economic perspective, the refunds are no different from their counterparts for household electric appliances, only that houses involve more money. This is a way of promoting sales. Businesses are knowledgeable when it comes to promoting their products in order to make profits.

Many factors are responsible for the recessive real estate market in China. Recent years have seen housing price in China grow too fast. In the face of exorbitantly expensive houses, many potential buyers hesitate to buy. At the same time, China's economic growth is slowing down, overshadowed by the global financial crunch, another blow to the consumer confidence. No one can predict where the property market is heading. At this juncture, if developers want to try new initiatives to cope with the economic environment, the government ought to encourage this. Maybe this would help China's property industry find a new model of development.

Stick to market rules

Chen Cai (Guangzhou Daily): For home buyers, to see their property values plummet is really a hard thing. Therefore, for those who bought apartments at an exorbitantly high price, it's understandable if they want to give the property back to developers or hope to get some refunds from them. However, all businesses have to stick to business contracts. No law or state regulation states that businesses should rebate consumers because of price declines or that home buyers have the right to ask for refunds from developers.

The logic here is quite simple: One of the basic principles for the market economy is the freedom to trade. After the transaction, the seller, apart from taking responsibility for the quality of the commodity, does not have any other responsibilities, including maintaining the value of the commodity.