China offers to buy up commercial housing to boost property market
China cut the minimum down payment rate for first-time homebuyers yesterday and suggested the government could buy up commercial real estate, in some of Beijing’s most ambitious moves yet to lift the ailing housing market out of an unprecedented debt crisis.
Property and construction accounts for more than a quarter of gross domestic product, but the sector has been under unprecedented strain since 2020, when authorities tightened developers’ access to credit in a bid to reduce mounting debt.
Since then, major companies including China Evergrande and Country Garden have teetered, while falling prices have dissuaded consumers from investing in property.
Under mounting pressure to boost the ailing market and ensure millions of unused homes go to those in need of housing, Beijing convened a video conference Friday, state news agency Xinhua said. Yesterday’s meeting was attended by regulators,
representatives of top banks, local governments and the property market, Bloomberg News reported.
“Great efforts should be made to promote the handling of commercial housing projects classified as under construction that have been sold and are facing difficulties to deliver,” vice premier He Lifeng told the meeting,
according to state media. “In cities where there is a large inventory of commercial housing, the government can place orders and purchase some of the commercial housing at reasonable prices as appropriate to use as affordable housing,” he added.
No details were provided on how many houses would be bought. (AFP)