The Poster News APP:

A meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, held on Sept. 26, proposed that efforts should be made to strictly manage new commercial housing construction, optimize existing stock, and improve quality. What specific measures have been put in place to revitalize idle land stock?

Liu Guohong:

Thank you for your question. We share your concern about revitalizing idle land stock, and we are actively working on this issue. The MNR has implemented the requirements made at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee regarding strictly managing new commercial housing construction, optimizing stock, and improving quality. In terms of land supply, we have been managing new land supply while revitalizing land stock. We have guided local governments to properly control new land supply for commercial housing construction. We have temporarily suspended the supply of land for commercial housing development in cities experiencing excessively prolonged property sales cycles. In cities with relatively longer sales cycles, future land supply will be contingent upon the extent to which idle land is revitalized. Regarding the revitalization of land stock, as you've noticed, on Oct. 12, the MOF announced that special bonds could be used for land reserves. Mr. Song also provided some explanations in this regard. This policy is designed to provide financial support for local governments to revitalize idle land through acquisition. To ensure the successful implementation of this policy, we have provided guidance to local governments to help them standardize procedures and clarify standards, with a particular focus on outlining detailed procedures for land acquisition. We will prioritize the repurchase of residential and commercial land from enterprises that are unable or unwilling to proceed with development, as well as land that has not yet been developed, providing them with special bonds or other financial support. We will also work with relevant departments to set up special loans to acquire existing land stocks. This will serve as a supplement to special bonds, and the PBC will launch a special relending facility for it. Ms. Tao has previously elaborated on this issue. We will strictly control the reallocation of reclaimed land for real estate development. Such reallocations will only be allowed when there is a proven market need, and even then, the land must be allocated in an optimized and targeted manner while being kept within a certain proportion of the total reclaimed land.

Reclaiming and repurchasing idle land to revitalize the existing land stock can serve three purposes: First, it reduces the scale of existing land stock in the market and better leverages the role of land reserves as a "reservoir" and land supply regulator, which helps stabilize market expectations. Second, it increases the liquidity of funds, enabling real estate developers to pool funds for housing delivery. Third, land acquisition and reserves create prime land that can be used not only to shore up weaknesses in public service facilities, improve living conditions, and meet the housing needs of residents but also to boost the development of the real economy and effective investment.

In addition to the aforementioned measure of supporting local governments with reclaiming and purchasing idle land, there are two more approaches for putting such land into better use. First, enterprises are encouraged to enhance related development methods. For idle land that interests enterprises and meets market demand, enterprises are allowed to apply for certificates in phases, defer payments of land transfer fees and enjoy reasonable exemptions from the liability for contract breaches. These measures aim to ease the financial burden on enterprises. Second, efforts will be made to facilitate transfers of land within the market. For idle land that enterprises are unable to develop, local regions will be guided to establish trading platforms, support advanced house trading registration and property transfers with existing mortgages, as well as promote judicial disposal and joint development methods. These measures aim to boost market vitality.

This concludes my response. Thank you.