China Home Sales Skirt Policies With Fake Divorces, Attics

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Frank He said he faked a divorce from his wife of 10 years to skirt China’s ban on third mortgages and obtain a bank loan for a third property, a 12 million yuan ($1.9 million) suburban villa.

“My wife and I love each other, but as long as we can get the mortgage from the bank for the deal, we’ll take it,” said He, a 40-year-old manager at a chemical company. The forged document, which cost the Shanghai couple 20,000 yuan, helped them get a loan amounting to 60 percent of the purchase price, he said.