In April 1990, Deng Xiaoping declared that the creation of a real-estate market would be a crucial aspect of the policy and openness. By the end of the 1990s however, there was still no uniform allocation of real estate according to the mechanism of free competition and prices in the People's Republic (housing, allocation of). Instead, local authorities operate as quasi-monopolies, controlling the market through opaque permit procedures and tariff and price controls. According to Art. 10 of the Constitution, private property is prohibited. In cities, the right to own land is…