Three-year plan to renovate housing

In this year’s Government Work Report, which he delivered to the National People’s Congress, the nation’s top legislature, on March 5, Premier Li Keqiang said that, “We will launch a new three-year plan to renovate housing in rundown urban areas, starting with the construction of 5.8 million units this year.”

As the domestic realty market has experienced changes, many small- and mediumsized cities face the pressure of destocking. The State Council has instructed local authorities to raise the compensation given to residents whose houses are to be demolished. This has helped, because these residents can buy the already constructed houses with the money.

According to official data, 48.5 percent of residents in previously rundown urban areas received housing compensation in 2016, which resulted in the destocking of 250 million square meters of housing nationwide in 2016.

Many local governments raised the percentage higher in 2017. If this trend continues, over the coming three years, it will boost the demand for housing to between 210 million and 260 million sq m annually.