BEIJING: China is set to implement a series of incremental measures to stabilize its property sector, said Ni Hong, minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
The event featured officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development alongside representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the People’s Bank of China, and the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
The government will step up support for urban village and dilapidated housing renovation projects, Ni said, adding that China will complete the renovation of an additional 1 million such housing units by providing monetary compensation to residents.
The minister emphasized that all eligible real estate projects will be included in the “white list” mechanism, to ensure that their reasonable financing needs are met through loans.
As of October 16, loans approved for the “white list” real estate projects had reached 2.23 trillion yuan (about $313.11 billion), according to Xiao Yuanqi, deputy head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
Xiao further indicated that the approved loan amount for “white list” projects is expected to double to over four trillion yuan by the end of this year.
Financial support and monetary policy measures were also announced during the press conference to aid stabilization of the property sector.
Song Qichao, assistant minister of finance, noted that local governments will have the autonomy to decide on the acquisition of existing residential properties using special bonds. The government is also actively pursuing adjustments to real estate value-added tax policies to alleviate burdens on both businesses and homebuyers.
In a related development, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, is exploring options to provide loans to qualified enterprises for acquiring idle land to support market recovery, according to Tao Ling, vice-president of the PBOC.
Home sales in major Chinese cities are rising in October, following a directive from Chinese authorities in late September to cut mortgage rates for existing loans, lower down payment ratios, and relax purchase restrictions.
The cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen introduced their own stimulus measures for local housing markets just before the National Day holiday.
The moves followed a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which emphasized the need for efforts to reverse the downturn in the real estate market and stabilize it. –The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
