Real estate market. Photo:VCG
China’s monetary authorities on Wednesday introduced a set of new measures to strengthen the ongoing stabilization of the real estate sector, as China’s property market shows more signs of recovery amid rising transactions this year.
Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, announced at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday a 0.25-percentage point cut in individual housing provident fund loan rates. The rate for first-home loans of more than five years will be lowered from 2.85 percent to 2.6 percent. Rates for other maturities will be adjusted accordingly.
“This policy adjustment is expected to save residents over 20 billion yuan ($2.77 billion) on individual housing provident fund loans annually, which will help shore up housing market demand, stabilize the real estate market and reverse its decline,” Pan said.
In addition, Li Yunze, head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, said at the same event that the authorities will accelerate the roll-out of a financial system aligned with the new development model for the real estate sector, in order to further consolidate the market’s stabilization trend.
In March, China’s home prices rose in more cities compared with the previous month, as real estate transactions picked up, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on April 16. The figures add to growing evidence that the real estate sector is stabilizing, thanks to the government’s stimulus policies announced in recent months aimed at supporting developers and boosting market morale, Xinhua News Agency reported.