Why should affordable housing be closed and managed, and where does the housing come from?

[Editor's note]

The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to actively and steadily resolve real estate risks and promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market. Improve relevant basic systems and accelerate the construction of a new model of real estate development. How to build a new model of real estate development? What are the new ways out for China's real estate in the new year?

Recently, the construction of the first batch of allotment-type affordable housing in Fuzhou, Shenzhen, Nanning and other places has been implemented one after another, and with the start of construction of a number of allotment-type affordable housing, a new round of affordable housing planning and construction has been officially launched.

How is it different from the original housing security system?

The person in charge of the relevant department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development recently said that the original housing security system is based on public rental housing and affordable rental housing. At present, the construction of affordable housing is divided into two types of affordable housing: the rental allocation type and the allocation type, of which the rental allocation type includes public rental housing and affordable rental housing, and the placement type of affordable housing is allocated according to the principle of guaranteeing capital and small profits. According to the requirements, the urban people's government should start by solving the housing problem of the wage earners in difficulty, reasonably determine the scope of security and access conditions according to the supply capacity, and gradually expand the scope to the entire wage and salary income group.

Li Yujia, chief researcher of the Housing Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Provincial Urban Planning Institute, told The Paper that the core feature of the new real estate development model is to clarify the housing security system that combines the rental and sales types. The allotment type is mainly composed of public rental housing and rent-guaranteed housing, while the allotment type is the property right housing that will be the focus of development in the future.

Li Yujia believes that the purpose of placing affordable housing is to meet the needs of people who have difficulty in buying houses with property rights. "Because in the context of high housing prices, some households without housing, talent groups, wage earners, etc., who want to own a house are very anxious, and they are also the backbone of the entire market and economic and social development. Therefore, after the housing has been fully commercialized, we Xi should learn from some foreign practices, take this group of people as the focus of housing security, and at the same time increase the proportion of affordable housing in the entire housing supply system. ”

According to the plan of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the new round of affordable housing planning and construction is not to copy a foreign model, but a reform of the housing security model with Chinese characteristics, and it is necessary to accelerate the establishment of a new model of "security + market" real estate industry development.

Who is the affordable housing for?

It can be seen that the planning and construction of affordable housing is regarded as a major reform to improve the housing system and supply system, and to reconstruct the relationship between the market and security. The "Guiding Opinions on Planning and Construction of Affordable Housing" was also deliberated and adopted by the executive meeting of the State Council on August 25, 2023.

The person in charge of the relevant department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that the reason for launching a new round of affordable housing planning and construction is because there is a long and short situation in the "two-wheel drive" of commercial housing and affordable housing, and the construction of affordable housing is relatively lagging behind, accounting for a low proportion of housing supply, unable to meet demand, and there are obvious shortcomings. Especially in first- and second-tier cities, due to high housing prices, some wage earners cannot afford to buy commercial housing. The planning and construction of affordable housing is a major reform to adapt to the new requirements of Chinese-style modernization, improve the housing system and supply system, and reconstruct the relationship between the market and security under the new situation.

The above-mentioned person in charge mentioned that a prominent feature of the new round of affordable housing construction is to expand the new way of placing affordable housing. At present, the specific conditions for the purchase of allotment-type affordable housing still depend on the next planning and requirements of the local government. The criteria are based on the applicant's family income, housing, property and other factors in order of allocation, starting with the most difficult groups and gradually expanding the scope.

In addition, according to the latest information released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the new round of affordable housing construction, with families as the unit, can only buy one set of affordable housing, which focuses on wage earners with housing difficulties and low incomes, as well as the "two types of groups" such as scientific and technological personnel, teachers, and medical personnel that the city needs to introduce. Where conditions permit, other groups can be gradually covered.

Why is it strictly closed?

Judging from the previous practice of affordable housing, for rent-allocated affordable housing (including public rental housing and affordable rental housing), the policy has always emphasized that "it cannot be listed and traded". For the placement of affordable housing, the current local regulations on the management of listing and trading are different, taking co-ownership housing as an example, some cities have not yet implemented closed management. The usual practice is that after the family has obtained the real estate ownership certificate for a certain number of years, the housing with common property rights can be listed for transfer or the buyer or co-occupant can purchase the government property right share, and after the listing transfer or purchase of the government property right share, the nature of the housing can be transformed into commercial housing.

One of the characteristics of this new round of affordable housing planning and construction is the implementation of strict closed management. Placement type affordable housing clearly implements strict closed management, and prohibits the illegal conversion of newly built placement type affordable housing into commercial housing into the market.

The person in charge of the relevant department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that the prohibition of affordable housing on the market and the implementation of strict closed management will be an important measure to distinguish between affordable housing and market-oriented housing, which can maximize the supply of affordable housing.

That is to say, affordable housing belongs to affordable housing, and affordable housing returns to the attributes of people's livelihood, and commercial housing belongs to commercial housing, and commercial housing returns to marketization and commercialization, which is the main direction of follow-up policy implementation. Zhang Hongwei, founder of Jingjian Consulting, told The Paper.

For the implementation of strict closed management of affordable housing, many industry experts have a positive view.

Yang Zhiyong, director and researcher of the Fiscal and Taxation Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote an article entitled "Closed Management of Affordable Housing, Only by Truly Taking into Account Fairness and Efficiency" that affordable housing is not allowed to be listed and traded, which can maximize the supply of affordable housing and maximize the solution of basic housing and people's livelihood problems.

Chen Jie, a professor at the School of International and Public Affairs of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and director of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Research Center, told The Paper that from the perspective of the central top-level design, the dual-track system of the housing supply system is still emphasized.

The industry believes that it is very necessary for affordable housing to implement closed management, affordable housing is different from commercial housing, there are access conditions when buying a house, it is to protect low- and middle-income or specific conditions of workers, and if it does not meet the conditions, it should be dynamically withdrawn, otherwise, it will directly lead to the loss of state-owned assets, and also lead to the shortage of affordable housing. Affordable housing and commercial housing go their own way, which is also the principle that has been implemented since the housing reform.

It is worth mentioning that, in accordance with the requirements, in the process of planning and construction of a new round of affordable housing, the principle of "new housing and new policies, old housing and old methods" will be adopted, and the co-ownership housing and talent housing that have been allocated before the implementation of the affordable housing policy will continue to implement the original policy.

Where does the listing come from?

Zhao Xiuchi, dean of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Real Estate Research Institute of the Capital University of Economics and Business, and vice president and secretary general of the Beijing Real Estate Law Society, told The Paper that in the future, the construction of affordable housing will be increased to make up for the shortcomings of the insufficient supply of affordable housing, and the government will provide affordable housing for low-income and working-class groups with housing difficulties. In the future, in combination with the transformation of urban villages, urban renewal, and renovation of dilapidated houses, more affordable housing will be provided in places with convenient transportation and in accordance with the principle of job-housing balance;

According to the person in charge of the relevant departments of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, most cities have submitted construction plans and construction projects for next year as required, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is working with relevant departments to urge the local government to implement the construction project to the specific construction plot, and at the same time do a good job in the follow-up project reserves. Among them, Shanghai, Jinan, Qingdao, Fuzhou, Changsha and many other cities have started a number of projects.

Among them, for the construction of allotment-type affordable housing, Zhao Xiuchi believes that the allotment-type affordable housing will take the lead in large cities with a permanent population of more than 3 million. Because the larger the city, the higher the housing prices, and the more prominent the problem of the working class not being able to afford a house and having difficulty in housing.

According to incomplete statistics, up to now, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Nanning and other places have explored placement of affordable housing.

According to Fuzhou News Network, on December 27, Fuzhou City's first placement type affordable housing - Binhai Shuanglong New Residence officially started, the total number of units of the project is 701 sets, the unit area is divided into 45 square meters, 60 square meters, 75 square meters of three kinds, surrounded by medical care, schools, subway and other supporting facilities, by Fuzhou Anju Engineering Construction Co., Ltd. is responsible for the construction. The total investment of the project is 254 million yuan, which comes from the self-raised funds of enterprises and the loan of China Development Bank, with a capital of 51.2 million yuan and a special loan of 202 million yuan from China Development Bank.

According to the WeChat public account "Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau", on December 28, the first batch of placement affordable housing construction in Shenzhen started in a centralized manner, and there were 13 placement affordable housing projects in this centralized construction, including 2 projects in Futian District, 2 projects in Nanshan District, 2 projects in Baoan District, 2 projects in Longgang District, 2 projects in Longhua District, 2 projects in Pingshan District, 1 project in Guangming District, with a total land area of 177,000 square meters, a construction area of 757,000 square meters of affordable housing for sale, a total investment of about 12.5 billion yuan, and a total of more than 10,000 sets of housing.

According to official statistics, since the "14th Five-Year Plan", Shenzhen has built and raised about 490,000 units (rooms) of various types of affordable housing, of which 189,000 units (rooms) will be raised in 2023.

According to the WeChat public account "Guangxi Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development", the "Guiding Opinions on Planning and Construction of Affordable Housing" issued by the State Council proposes to take the lead in exploring the planning and construction of affordable housing in large cities with a permanent population of more than 3 million in urban areas, and Nanning is the only eligible city in Guangxi. At present, according to the principle of building according to demand, Nanning has summarized and sorted out 7 pilot projects of affordable housing for sale, with a total investment of about 3.9 billion yuan, of which 4,000 housing units are planned to be built in 2024. At the same time, under the guidance of the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Nanning Municipal Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is studying and formulating the management measures for allotment-type affordable housing, clarifying the implementation rules such as the scope of protection, access conditions, review process, and unit size.