China cities to offer housing vouchers for reconstruction projects
Industry experts said on Wednesday that the introduction of housing vouchers for relocation projects in more than a dozen Chinese cities may help boost home transactions in local property markets that have been facing downward pressure since the beginning of the year.
Families in at least 15 cities with identified as local relocation projects have been made eligible for housing vouchers since March, according to China Business News.
The cities include the Zhengzhou and Xinyang province of Sichuan province of Yibin, Zhejiang province of Wenzhou, Jiangsu province's Changshu, Jiangyin and Lishui district of the provincial capital Nanjing.
People with expropriated residential properties for government-led reconstruction projects will get housing vouchers and can use them to buy specific apartments within the voucher validity period.
On Monday, Zhengzhou, the capital of Central China's Henan province, made public its provisional implementation measures for reconstruction projects.
Families who are involved in the renovation of shanty towns in the central urban area will be compensated with housing vouchers, which they can use to buy specific apartments designated by the local government.
The adoption of housing vouchers by these cities is expected to promote home transactions in local markets.
The measures are designed to meet the needs of people whose homes were expropriated. Li Yujia is chief researcher at the provincial planning institute's residential policy research center in Guangdong province, and believes that Efforts will be made to provide flexibility and personalized services in a way that can boost local home consumption with more effective supply.
The property market in Zhengzhou is facing a number of negatives, including a downtrend, rising inventories and insufficient demand, said Liang Botao, general manager of the Henan branch of the China Index Academy.
Liang believes that housing vouchers will help the real estate market of Zhengzhou, boost market confidence and boost market confidence.
In 2015, several cities launched similar housing vouchers for urban renovation projects. In 2016 more cities followed suit to destock their housing inventories, according to information in the public domain.
The daily transaction volume of new commercial residential properties in 100 Chinese cities increased 20 percent month-on-month in the first 20 days of this month, according to the Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institution.
Its prediction was based on the constant housing market stabilization policies launched since March, particularly after the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee issued a call for more refined real estate market policies.
The report stated that with COVID- 19 gradually coming under control in Chinese cities, home transactions and market expectations are expected to improve further.
On April 29, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee met in Beijing and stressed the importance of ensuring that no systemic risks emerge in the real estate market.
The leadership reiterated the principle that housing is for living in, not for speculation Efforts should be made to improve real estate policies based on local situations and meet demand for better housing, the meeting decided.