China.org.cn | December 3, 2024
South China Morning Post:
I have a question about the real estate industry. Could you elaborate on the current situation in the real estate sector? According to the latest data, has there been any improvement in the real estate industry since the government announced new policies to prop up the property market on May 17? What are your views on future trends, especially considering the recent introduction of many new policies? Thank you.
Sheng Laiyun:
Thank you for your questions. The real estate market has been adjusting continuously over the past two years. As a result, the central and local governments have launched a series of policies in the last two years to stabilize the real estate market and promote its healthy development, including the new real estate policy issued on May 17, as you mentioned, and a series of stabilization and recovery policies introduced by relevant departments since September, following a central Politburo meeting. Just yesterday, I noted that several departments have held press conferences here, comprehensively detailing the meaning, measures and effects of these real estate policies. I share the general sentiment that these policy measures are effectively stabilizing the real estate market as well as boosting confidence.
From our statistical data, in the first three quarters, these real estate policies played a positive role in stabilizing the market and halting the sector's decline. I just reported in several data points that while real estate development investment remained at minus 10.1% from January through September, the rate of decline narrowed compared with the January-August period, signaling a positive trend. Although the real estate sector is still undergoing adjustments in terms of both sales area and value, the decline has narrowed. The decrease in newly built commercial housing sales area narrowed by 1.9 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, slowing for four consecutive months, while sales value narrowed for five consecutive months. Additionally, central government departments supported real estate companies in enhancing liquidity. Consequently, funds received by real estate development enterprises from January to September also saw a narrowing decline, decreasing by 2.6 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, with the decline narrowing for six consecutive months. These developments indicate that real estate policy measures are gradually taking effect and steering the property market toward stabilization.
With the rollout and implementation of the comprehensive real estate policy package, we maintain an optimistic outlook for the property market going forward. As discussed at yesterday's press conference, this package of measures, which aims at stabilizing the market and halting the decline, is quite substantial, involving multiple departments and levels. Once fully implemented, these measures will certainly have a positive impact. Based on recent changes in real estate professionals' expectations and actual transactions during the National Day holiday week, we have reason to be optimistic about future market trends. I'd like to share two data points from our recent monthly survey of real estate developers and agencies in 70 large and medium-sized cities. Among real estate professionals, the proportion expressing optimism about new home sales in September increased by 10 percentage points compared with the previous month. For second-hand home sales, those expressing optimism rose by 6.5 percentage points. This improvement in confidence is quite significant.
Additionally, everyone has noticed changes in the real estate market during the National Day holiday week, with many properties seeing significant improvements in both visitor traffic and transaction volume. According to preliminary statistics from some market institutions, the transaction area for new homes increased by 102% during the holiday week, while the second-hand home transaction area rose by 205%. These changes are quite remarkable. Therefore, we have reason to believe that the real estate market will show positive developments. Thank you.