On April 30, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting, emphasizing the need to continue to adhere to city-specific policies, consolidate the responsibilities of local governments, real estate enterprises, and financial institutions, effectively carry out the work of ensuring housing delivery, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers. It is necessary to combine the new changes in the supply-demand relationship of the real estate market and the people's new expectations for high-quality housing, conduct coordinated research on policy measures to digest existing housing stock and optimize incremental housing, promptly build a new model for real estate development, and promote high-quality development of the real estate sector.

How to deeply understand and thoroughly implement the new requirements of the Party Central Committee? Our newspaper reporter interviewed relevant experts. They said: Judging from the wording of the meeting, it fully reflects the people-centered development philosophy. In resolving risks, it is necessary to "effectively carry out the work of ensuring housing delivery and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers"; in building a new development model, it emphasizes "the people's new expectations for high-quality housing," the core of which is to let the people live with peace of mind and comfort.

Consolidate Responsibilities to Ensure Housing Delivery and Safeguard the Legitimate Rights and Interests of Homebuyers

The meeting emphasized that it is necessary to "consolidate the responsibilities of local governments, real estate enterprises, and financial institutions, effectively carry out the work of ensuring housing delivery, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers."

Liu Lin, a researcher at the Investment Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said this shows that at present and for some time to come, all localities will continue to step up efforts to stabilize real estate financing, promote the completion and delivery of projects, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers.

"At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Financial Regulatory Administration issued a notice requiring the establishment of a city-level real estate financing coordination mechanism, proposing a 'whitelist' according to the principle of 'one project, one plan,' supporting the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises under different ownership systems without discrimination, and effectively carrying out the work of ensuring housing delivery." It is understood that all cities at the prefecture level and above have established city-level real estate financing coordination mechanisms, and two batches of 'whitelist' projects have been submitted, with projects expected to receive nearly one trillion yuan in financing.

"This new formulation, on the basis of the previous emphasis on consolidating the territorial responsibilities of local governments and the primary responsibilities of developers, proposes for the first time consolidating the responsibilities of financial institutions," said Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Housing Policy Research Center of Guangdong Province. "Simply put, it requires financial institutions not to refuse loans or be unwilling to lend simply because of concerns about the overall risks of the real estate market, even if a single project is compliant and has entered the 'whitelist.'" He believes that whether preventing risks or safeguarding people's livelihood, it is necessary to consolidate the responsibilities of all parties and stimulate the motivation of all parties. "Only when the responsibilities of all parties are in place and their motivation is stimulated can the elements of 'people, housing, land, and money' achieve a virtuous cycle, can risks truly be prevented, and can housing delivery truly be ensured."

"The use of the term 'ensuring housing delivery' in this meeting instead of 'ensuring building delivery' can be understood from two levels: one is the process level, where the delivery guarantee tasks of relevant responsible entities must be completed from the preliminary physical delivery at the project building level to the complete functional delivery at the housing level; the other is the scope level, where delivery risks must be extended from under-construction projects that have been sold out or basically sold out to under-construction projects that have not yet been put on sale or are basically unsold," Chen Jie, director of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Research Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told reporters. "'Ensuring building delivery' focuses on under-construction projects that are basically sold out but carry delivery risks, safeguarding people's livelihood and stabilizing public sentiment; 'ensuring housing delivery' targets all under-construction projects, ensuring that functionally complete housing is delivered on time and with quality, stabilizing confidence, which can promote the orderly release of housing demand, activate the entire housing market, and lay a solid foundation for reversing the situation in the housing market."

Digest Existing Stock and Optimize Incremental Supply to Meet People's Demand for Housing Quality

The meeting also proposed that it is necessary to conduct coordinated research on policy measures to digest existing housing stock and optimize incremental housing.

Xu Xiaole, chief expert of Beike Think Tank, said this means it is necessary to better leverage the guiding role of policies and connect the old and new cycles through the optimization of product structure. For existing housing stock, it is necessary to actively revitalize and utilize it through functional conversion, give play to its value for affordable housing, and reduce inventory pressure; for the incremental market, it is necessary to stimulate demand for improvement through quality upgrading.

Chai Qiang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Institute of Real Estate Appraisers and Agents, said this policy measure is a new requirement with rich connotations that needs to be deeply understood. "Incremental housing" mainly refers to new housing planned and built in the future, including commercial housing and affordable housing; "optimization" means improving the "market + affordable housing" housing supply system, building "good houses," and meeting the people's demand for high-quality housing. As for digesting existing housing stock, multiple measures are needed, such as allowing commercial, office, and other non-residential buildings to adjust the use of existing housing stock according to market demand under the premise of complying with planning and use control; encouraging housing leasing enterprises to purchase or renovate existing housing stock for use as rental housing; and where the total local housing supply exceeds demand and the government has the financial capacity, it may purchase part of the existing housing stock for use as affordable housing and relocation housing. At the same time, when the government purchases existing housing stock, in order to prevent possible moral hazards, it should proceed prudently and establish relevant mechanisms, such as having an independent third-party real estate appraisal institution assess a fair and reasonable purchase price and setting up an expert committee to review the purchase price.

The meeting proposed to "conduct coordinated research on policy measures to digest existing housing stock and optimize incremental housing," which is related to the construction of a new model for real estate development and high-quality development. This new formulation reflects the depth and forward-looking nature of the new round of housing policy, and also reflects a precise grasp of market changes. Yan Yuejin, research director of the E-House Research Institute, said the policy covers three levels: first, the digestion of existing housing stock, that is, the digestion of second-hand housing listings; second, incremental housing, including newly built affordable housing and high-quality residential housing; third, "coordinated" research on policy measures, with coordinated progress of stock and incremental supply.

Yan Yuejin said the starting point of these three levels lies in digesting existing housing stock, and the key is to pay attention to details and grasp the rhythm, focusing on scientificity and comprehensiveness. First, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of "one city, one policy," and in particular to deeply study and judge the supply-demand relationship and new demand for high-quality housing in the city concerned. Second, it is necessary to deeply understand and grasp the characteristics of the local second-hand housing market, including the location differences between second-hand housing and new housing, and the new demands of "selling the old" and "swapping for the new," so as to ensure that policies are implemented accurately and efficiently. Third, it is necessary to optimize and improve the service system for digesting second-hand housing, study and introduce supporting measures in areas such as appraisal, mortgage, financing, and taxes and fees, and provide strong support for market reform.

Promptly Build a New Model to Promote High-Quality Development of Real Estate

The meeting proposed that it is necessary to promptly build a new model for real estate development and promote high-quality development of the real estate sector.

"This is the top-level design for the sustainable development of real estate in the future," Li Yujia said. Building a new model for real estate development means improving the "market + affordable housing" supply system that matches supply and demand, building allocation-type affordable housing on a large scale, increasing efforts to prepare and build affordable rental housing, and building a housing security system that is low-cost, combines renting and purchasing, and has complete supporting facilities.

Yu Xiaofen, dean of the China Housing and Real Estate Research Institute of Zhejiang University of Technology, believes that building a new model for real estate development is a new requirement for achieving high-quality development in the real estate sector in the process of Chinese-style modernization, and is a fundamental solution for promoting the steady and healthy development of the real estate market.

Yu Xiaofen believes that in terms of development philosophy, it is necessary to pay more attention to improving housing quality and quality, pay more attention to functional optimization and supporting facilities, and shift from "whether there is" to "whether it is good." In terms of mechanisms, it is necessary to establish a new mechanism for the linkage of the elements of "people, housing, land, and money," starting from the scientific allocation of element resources, determining housing by people, land by housing, and money by housing. It is necessary to improve the land supply structure, optimize the way of financial support, promote the adaptation of the relationship among population, housing, land, and funds, and avoid market supply-demand imbalance and drastic fluctuations. In terms of the supply system, it is necessary to improve the "market + affordable housing" housing supply system, with the government safeguarding basic housing needs and the market meeting multi-level and diversified housing needs, establish a housing system that combines renting and purchasing, and strive to create a situation in which the people each have their proper place and live and work in peace and contentment. To increase the construction and supply of affordable housing, it is necessary to both promote the construction of allocation-type affordable housing and increase the supply of rental-type affordable housing, and solve the housing problems of new citizens, young people, and migrant workers in diverse and multifaceted ways such as a bed, a room, and an apartment. In terms of sales methods, implement sales of completed housing. In terms of housing management, it is necessary to promote full-life-cycle management, accelerate the establishment of systems such as urban housing inspections, housing pensions, and housing insurance, and establish a full-life-cycle housing management system. In terms of technology, it is necessary to increase the research and application of new quality productive forces such as environmental protection, energy conservation, and intelligence, deepen the reform of the engineering construction standards system, lead new industry development with new technologies, and comprehensively improve the quality and sustainability of real estate projects. In terms of paths, it is necessary to establish safeguard mechanisms for the new model of real estate development, including land use systems, fiscal and tax systems, and financial systems, so as to promote high-quality development of the real estate sector.