Promote the implementation of real estate financial policies to achieve results

Source: Economic Daily

It has been more than a month since the release of the new real estate "5.17" policy, what new changes have occurred in the market? At present, the work of guaranteeing the delivery of housing is being vigorously promoted, and as an important guarantee, the loan approval amount of the "white list" project of the urban real estate financing coordination mechanism has reached 935 billion yuan. After the down payment ratio is reduced, more than eighty percent of the 100 cities in the country have clearly implemented the minimum down payment of 15% for the first house and 25% for the second house; After the cancellation of the national lower limit of mortgage interest rates, the interest rates of the first and second homes in 100 cities across the country have generally dropped to the level starting with the word "3".

Do a good job in the battle of ensuring the delivery of housing

From the supply side, ensuring the timely delivery of sold and under construction commercial housing is the premise and basis for stabilizing the expectations of the demand side. At present, the work of ensuring the delivery of housing is being carried out vigorously and orderly. "At the national, provincial and municipal levels, capable forces have been dispatched to set up special work classes, implement centralized office, and coordinate and promote the work; At the same time, establish an information system for guaranteed delivery of housing projects to track the progress of supervision work in a timely and accurate manner. Dong Jianguo, Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said.

The national video conference held on May 17 to do a good job in ensuring the delivery of housing clearly stated that we should continue to adhere to the city-specific policies, do a good job in the risk disposal of unfinished commercial housing, and solidly promote key tasks such as ensuring the delivery of housing and digesting the stock of commercial housing. "The main consideration is to do a good job in the tough battle of ensuring the delivery of urban commercial housing projects through measures such as finding out the base, classifying disposal, judicial support, and establishing a long-term mechanism." Dong Jianguo said. On the one hand, find out the bottom number. The city government should comprehensively investigate the commercial housing projects under construction and sold in the city, lock down the projects that are difficult to deliver, accurately grasp the existing problems, and establish a project ledger. On the other hand, classified disposal. The city government shall, in accordance with the principles of marketization and rule of law, guide the project development enterprises to formulate a "one project, one policy" disposal plan.

In the above process, the urban real estate financing coordination mechanism can play a positive role in taking the lead in coordination and vigorously promoting. In January this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration jointly issued the Notice on the Establishment of a Coordination Mechanism for Urban Real Estate Financing to build a communication platform between the government, banks and enterprises to help real estate enterprises and financial institutions achieve accurate and effective docking. From late January to May 16 this year, in less than four months, the amount of loans approved for the "white list" projects of the urban real estate financing coordination mechanism has reached 935 billion yuan, and 297 cities at and above the prefecture level have established the mechanism.

"The 'white list' is voluntarily declared by the real estate project company, pre-reviewed and proposed by the district and county of the city, and the coordination mechanism organizes screening and review, and those who meet the conditions and standards are included in the 'white list', and those who do not meet the conditions and standards must implement rectification, promote problem solving, and form a closed-loop management mechanism." Xiao Yuanqi, deputy director of the State Administration of Financial Regulation, said that in addition, the coordination mechanism should be responsible for optimizing the supervision process of pre-sale funds, reasonably confirming the amount of pre-sale supervision funds, and consolidating the responsibilities of real estate enterprises and real estate project companies.

It is reported that as of May 27, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has approved more than 500 "white list" projects, with a loan amount of more than 150 billion yuan, which will be gradually put into operation according to the progress of project construction; As of May 26, the sponsoring bank projects of the first and second batches of the coordination mechanism of Zheshang Bank have reached 59, with a credit amount of 18.7 billion yuan and a cumulative loan of 7.6 billion yuan. "ICBC branches at all levels have strengthened the docking with the coordination mechanism, actively obtained the list of projects, participated in the review and control of the projects included in the 'white list' in accordance with the corresponding conditions and standards, and established a green channel for credit approval to ensure that eligible projects can be fully advanced and should be fully loaned." The relevant person in charge of the bank's corporate finance business department said.

For those insolvent projects, next, the regulatory authorities will push them into judicial resolution procedures, bankruptcy of bankruptcy, restructuring of restructuring. "It is necessary to put the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of home buyers in the first place, and in this process, we must resolutely investigate and deal with all kinds of violations of laws and regulations in accordance with the law, and do not let the violators 'get out of their shells', and do not let the behaviors that harm the interests of the masses get through the test." Dong Jianguo said.

Unleash reasonable demand for home purchases

From the perspective of the threshold for buying a house, on May 17, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration issued the Notice on Adjusting the Policy on the Minimum Down Payment Ratio of Personal Housing Loans, reducing the minimum down payment ratio of individual housing loans at the national level, adjusting the minimum down payment ratio for the first house from no less than 20% to no less than 15%, and the minimum down payment ratio for the second house from no less than 30% to not less than 25%. "After the adjustment, the city government can still implement policies according to the city." Tao Ling, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said that on the basis of the lower limit of the down payment ratio determined by the city government, commercial banks can independently decide the specific down payment ratio according to the risk profile of customers. According to the latest monitoring data of the Shell Research Institute, as of the end of May this year, more than eighty percent of the cities in the hundred cities have clearly implemented the minimum down payment of 15% for the first house and the minimum down payment of 25% for the second house.

From the perspective of reducing the financial cost of buying a house, in June this year, the mortgage interest rate in 100 cities across the country has generally dropped to the level starting with the word "3". According to the latest monitoring data from the Shell Research Institute, in May 2024, the average interest rate of the first mainstream mortgage in Baicheng was 3.45%, down 12 basis points from the previous month; The interest rate of the second set of mainstream mortgages averaged 3.90%, down 26 basis points from the previous month. Among them, the interest rates of the first and second sets of mainstream mortgages in May fell by 55 basis points and 101 basis points respectively compared with the same period in 2023. In addition, the average loan cycle of banks in May was 22 days, which still maintained a relatively fast lending speed.

It is worth noting that at present, the national lower limit of mortgage interest rates has been abolished, and the marketization of interest rates has been realized. Previously, the lower limit of the national first home loan interest rate policy was LPR minus 20 basis points for more than 5 years, and the lower limit of the second home loan interest rate policy was LPR plus 20 basis points for more than 5 years. On May 17, the People's Bank of China issued the Notice on Adjusting the Interest Rate Policy for Commercial Personal Housing Loans, removing the lower limit of the interest rate policy for commercial personal housing loans for the first and second houses at the national level. "After the lower limit of the mortgage interest rate policy is abolished, commercial banks can independently determine the interest rate level according to the risk profile of customers, so as to realize the marketization of mortgage interest rates." Tao Ling said.

At the same time, the interest rate on provident fund loans was lowered by 0.25 percentage points. Previously, the interest rate of the first home provident fund loan with a term of more than 5 years was 3.1%, and after the interest rate of the provident fund loan of each term was reduced by 0.25 percentage points, the interest rate of the first home provident fund loan with a term of more than 5 years was reduced to 2.85%.

The reporter visited a number of real estate intermediaries in Beijing and found that after the release of the "5.17" new policy, the market has rebounded slightly, mainly because the wait-and-see sentiment in the early stage has been further released, and the most cost-effective wave of housing is being digested. At the same time, the number of large-scale units has increased, and buyers with improved sexual needs have gradually entered the market. At the same time, it was also found that buyers did not show obvious willingness to increase leverage, and the transaction price was obvious at the reserve price, and the transaction price was stable.

Tao Ling said that if the relationship between supply and demand in the real estate market changes greatly in the future, the People's Bank of China will resume the implementation of the lower limit of the policy in a timely manner or guide the city government to restore the lower limit of the policy to regulate supply and demand.

Study and digest the stock of real estate

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a meeting on April 30, emphasizing that it is necessary to combine the new changes in the supply and demand relationship of the real estate market and the new expectations of the people for high-quality housing, coordinate the study of policies and measures to digest the stock of real estate and optimize the incremental housing, and pay close attention to the construction of a new model of real estate development to promote the high-quality development of real estate.

On May 17, Tao Ling said at the regular briefing on the State Council's policies held by the Information Office of the State Council that 300 billion yuan of affordable housing reloans would be established. Encourage and guide financial institutions to follow the principles of marketization and rule of law to support local state-owned enterprises to purchase completed and unsold commercial housing at a reasonable price for placement or rental affordable housing, which is expected to drive bank loans of 500 billion yuan. Specifically, the scale of affordable housing relending is 300 billion yuan, the interest rate is 1.75%, the term is 1 year, and the term can be extended 4 times, and the issuance targets include 21 national banks such as the China Development Bank, policy banks, state-owned commercial banks, postal savings banks, and joint-stock commercial banks. Banks issue loans in accordance with the principle of independent decision-making and assumption of risk. The People's Bank of China (PBoC) will issue re-loans at 60% of the loan principal, which can drive bank loans of 500 billion yuan.

"This policy is an important measure introduced by the People's Bank of China to support the construction of a new model of real estate development, which is conducive to achieving multiple goals through a market-oriented approach." Tao Ling said that the first is to speed up the destocking of stock commercial housing; the second is to speed up the supply of affordable housing; The third is to help ensure the delivery of housing and the "white list" mechanism, after real estate enterprises sell the completed commercial housing, the funds can be used to continue the construction of projects under construction, and improve the financial situation of real estate enterprises.

The executive meeting of the State Council held on June 7 pointed out that efforts should be made to promote the implementation of the policies and measures that have been introduced, and continue to study and reserve new policy measures to destock and stabilize the market. On June 12, the People's Bank of China held a meeting in Jinan City, Shandong Province to promote the refinancing of affordable housing, emphasizing the need to strengthen institutional guarantees and internal and external supervision, adhere to voluntary participation, order according to demand, reasonable pricing, ensure business sustainability, strictly avoid new local hidden debts, and effectively prevent moral hazard. Among them, the city government selects a local state-owned enterprise as the acquisition entity, and the state-owned enterprise and its affiliated group shall not be involved in the hidden debts of the local government, shall not be a local government financing platform, and shall have bank credit requirements and credit space, and shall be placed or leased quickly after the acquisition.

"The intention of the new round of real estate stabilization and destocking policy is to stabilize the real estate market, not to overstimulate, let alone encourage speculation." Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank, said that the key to the stable and long-term development of the real estate industry is to return housing to the essence of living and let people live in high-quality and desirable houses. (Economic Daily reporter Guo Ziyuan)