You can settle down by buying and renting houses in many places, and you need to retain people to attract people

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Buying and renting houses in many places can be settled, and it is necessary to attract people and retain them

Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter

The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-style Modernization adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to "coordinate the urban and rural employment policy system, and simultaneously promote the reform of household registration, employment, archives and other services" and "completely abolish the restrictions on household registration in the place of employment".

In fact, since the beginning of this year, more than 10 cities such as Nanjing, Foshan, Wuhan, and Shenyang have issued new rules for settlement, including restarting the purchase of houses, exploring the settlement of rents, increasing the allocation of points for buying houses, etc., and "sending" the household registration for buying and renting houses.

After the relaxation of settlement requirements, how can these places strengthen supporting service guarantees and truly retain people?

If you buy or rent a house in many places, you can apply to settle down

A number of new first-tier cities and core second-tier cities have introduced new rules for settlement this year, relaxing the conditions for settlement, and you can apply for settlement when you buy or rent a house.

Among them, Nanjing has restarted the policy of buying houses and settling down after 6 years, and clearly proposed that "the conditions for settlement will be further relaxed, and non-Nanjing household registration personnel who have a legal and stable residence in the city and actually live in the city can directly apply for settlement".

Suzhou, Foshan, Hefei and other places have implemented "buying a house to apply for settlement", and allowing spouses, minor children, etc. to move with them.

Wuhan has further optimized the procedures for purchasing and settling down, so that buyers from other places who are unable to directly settle down because the houses have not yet been delivered can apply for the purchase and settlement procedures in advance with the recorded "Commercial Housing Sales Contract" and payment vouchers.

"In the past, it was necessary to wait for the delivery of the new house and the completion of the real estate certificate before settling down, but after the introduction of the new policy, the settlement process has accelerated a lot." Xiao Meng, the manager of a real estate agency in Wuhan, said that one of his clients had recently bought a house and had completed the settlement within a month by signing a contract online.

Although Hangzhou has not relaxed to "zero threshold" for settlement, it has increased the weight of the allocation of points for self-owned housing within the existing framework of points settlement - since July this year, the standard score of "self-purchased property rights housing and actual residence in the urban area of the city" in the Hangzhou residence permit points management index system has been increased from 30 points to 80 points.

"The significant increase in the number of points assigned to buying a house means that according to the current rules, people aged 45 and below who buy a house in Hangzhou can obtain the qualification to settle down by virtue of age points and housing points." He Chenyu, deputy director of the Real Estate Industry Development Department of the Hangzhou Municipal Housing and Housing Management Bureau, said.

Some cities have also taken renting as a landing point for policy adjustments. Foshan's new settlement policy mentions that if you have been employed in the local area for three years, you can apply for a rental house; The "Several Policies and Measures to Further Promote the Settlement of Migrant Populations in Shenyang", which came into effect on June 1, clarified that renting a house can be settled, and at the same time, the scope of refuge and settlement is relaxed to close relatives such as daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, brothers and sisters, grandchildren (grandchildren).

"I heard that renting a house can also be settled, what are the specific requirements?" Recently, at the Xinhua Police Station of the Heping Branch of the Shenyang Public Security Bureau, Mr. Zheng, a native of Jiangxi, came to consult about the settlement of related issues. The reporter noticed that the registration book of the household registration police officer Jin Lu showed that there have been dozens of new residents in the police station in the past month.

At the end of June, the masses settled down at the household registration window of the Sitaizi Police Station of the Huanggu Branch of the Shenyang Municipal Public Security Bureau. Photo courtesy of Shenyang Municipal Public Security Bureau

Li Wei, deputy head of the community policing detachment of the Shenyang Municipal Public Security Bureau, introduced that in order to make every effort to implement the new policy, the household registration window of the Shenyang Public Security Police Station in the city is open 365 days a day, and the "one-time notification" and "one-window handling" are implemented.

In-depth consideration to increase the "gold content" of house purchase

Industry experts believe that the new settlement policy introduced in many places is a further implementation of the reform of the household registration system, which not only has the consideration of stimulating the real estate market, but also the need for the city to attract talents and population.

Since 2014, a total of 150 million rural migrants have settled in urban areas, and the urbanization rate of the national registered population has increased from 35.93% in 2014 to 48.3% in 2023. At present, the settlement restrictions in cities with a permanent population of less than 3 million in mainland urban areas have been basically lifted, and the settlement conditions in cities with more than 3 million people are being relaxed in an orderly manner.

Li Mingyan, an associate researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the main purpose of introducing new policies to settle down in various places is to boost market vitality. The reporter interviewed and found that the relaxation of settlement restrictions in many places has revitalized the local consumer market to a certain extent, especially the housing market.

In Wuhan, after the introduction of the new policy, the new housing market showed a warming trend, with an average daily transaction of 325 commercial houses in June, an increase of 18.4% over the same period last year; In Hangzhou, 8,849 second-hand houses were signed online in June, an increase of 68.3% year-on-year, setting a new high in Hangzhou's 15-month transaction volume.

Chen Lizhong, a professor at the School of Economics and Business Administration of Central China Normal University, believes that the relationship between supply and demand in the mainland real estate market has changed.

"Urban competition is actually a competition for population and talents, and only when the talent elements flow out, the development vitality of the city will become stronger and stronger." Han Song, deputy director of the employment department of the Shenyang Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, said that the relaxation of settlement restrictions can smooth the channels for young people and rural people to enter the city and make better use of labor resources.

Combing through the settlement policies announced by various places, it can be found that the threshold of education and age has been gradually relaxed, and the competition for top talents has shifted to population competition. Hu Gang, a professor at Jinan University and founding president of the South China Urban Research Association, said that "grabbing talents" is no longer limited to highly educated talents, and skilled talents and labor force have become the objects of contention.

Different regions have different strategies for grabbing people. Many places in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta have shown favor for skilled talents, and some cities in Northeast China tend to attract different categories and levels of talent groups. According to the analysis of industry insiders, the policy shift is in line with the needs of the transformation of the city's industrial structure, and it will also help solve the problem of shortage of skilled talents and labor shortage faced by the sustainable development of the regional economy.

To attract people, you also need to retain people

One month after the release of the new regulations on settlement in Shenyang, 9,719 people settled in the city, an increase of 3.16% year-on-year and 31.60% month-on-month; Foshan implemented the new rules on settlement on May 13, and by July 5, the city had accepted a total of 53,000 applications for relocation from outside the city, nearly three times that of the same period last year.

Many of the people who are willing to settle down are from small towns, looking at the employment opportunities, comprehensive quality of life and multicultural atmosphere of large cities, and looking forward to allowing their children to receive a better education and better medical care and pension protection for themselves and their families.

According to the interviewed experts, the main reason why the hukou in big cities is highly valued is that it comes with the qualification to buy a house and a car, as well as a series of high-quality public services such as education, employment, social security, medical care, pension, and urban infrastructure. In recent years, although basic social services in many cities have gradually expanded to migrants without household registration, some high-quality resources will still be given priority to the registered population.

Li Mingyan said, for example, that after settling down, they can enjoy services such as children attending school nearby, the elderly applying for admission to public pension institutions nearby, and receiving relevant subsidies, public transportation discounts, and free scenic spots.

In some cities, getting a hukou does not mean that you can go to school. For example, at present, the housing purchase and settlement policy in Wuhan is at the municipal level, but the compulsory education enrollment policy is formulated and implemented at the district level; The requirements of each district may be different, some districts need to be matched with student registration, some are household registration counterpart, and some are integrated with households, and the municipal and district policies need to be better coordinated.

For cities that implement the policy of renting and settling down, how to ensure the same rights of rental and sale still faces some difficulties. In some places, tenants need to provide lease certificates and property owners' permissions recognized by relevant government departments to settle down and their children go to school, and some landlords are reluctant to cooperate for fear of trouble. Industry insiders suggest that the process and procedures should be appropriately simplified, and supporting service guarantees should be strengthened, such as the establishment of special "public households" to facilitate the implementation of policies.

"The next step is to think about how to better protect the rights and interests of the migrant population, so that the migrant population can enjoy the same treatment as the permanent population." Hu Gang said.

Chen Lizhong believes that cities need to pay special attention to optimizing the quality of public services, creating a high-quality living environment, and improving transportation, shopping malls, parks and other supporting facilities; At the same time, we will vigorously develop emerging industries, provide more and better employment opportunities, and provide a broader space for talent development, so that people can not only "live in peace" but also "work happily".

Li Guozheng, director of the Market Research Center of the China Index Research Institute (Central China), believes that while the policy is liberalized, it should also consider the differentiated development of the region to avoid the population gathering in the central urban area and increasing the already serious burden on the urban area. (Reporter Yu Yetong, Lin Guangyao, Xiong Xianghe, Hong Zehua)