New real-estate development mode key to solving housing market woes

The road ahead for China’s housing market, which is still undergoing a period of adjustments, is a topic of concern in the public domain these days. The policies recently announced by the top authorities indicate that the country will strive to seek breakthroughs by stabilizing the market, preventing risks and promoting transformation, while actively building a new mode of real estate development.

It should be noted that China’s real estate market still has a foundation for long-term, stable and healthy development. For a period of time, the relevant departments have introduced a series of policy measures, such as lowering thresholds for first-home buying, reducing down payment ratios, cutting lending rates, and offering preferential fees and taxation. Local governments have also adopted a series of targeted policy measures to promote the delivery of houses to buyers, and keep the bottom line of no systemic risks. Although the task of stabilizing the real estate market is still arduous, from the perspective of China’s urbanization process, there are still more than 30 billion square meters of old houses in the cities and towns that need renovation, which leaves great potential and space for the development of the domestic real estate market.

The authorities should strive to promote the stabilization of the housing market and its recovery as a primary task. All cities should make good use of regulatory means at their disposal and make differentiated and precise measures based on their respective supply and demand relationship. After taking into account the local population, and supply and demand, the governments of all cities should formulate local housing development plans, and optimize real estate-related policies, to stabilize the local real estate market.

In terms of risk prevention, all localities should equally treat and meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises of different ownership. So far, a financing coordination mechanism has been established by hundreds of cities across the country and more than 6,000 real estate projects, of which 82 percent are projects of private real estate and mixedownership enterprises, have been included in a “white list”, which means financing support can be given. In promoting transformation, the country will focus on exploring the establishment of multitiered housing supply products, and strive to solve the housing problems for new citizens, young people, migrant workers and other groups.

In the long run, the construction and improvement of a new mode of real estate development that has diversified housing demands under market-based and government-subsidized housing supplies is the key to solving the problems and dilemma facing China’s current real-estate development and promoting its healthy development.