Source: Securities Daily
Reporter Xie Ruolin
Trainee reporter Zhang Qianyi
According to the website of the Changsha Municipal Government on May 9, a few days ago, the working group of the Changsha Real Estate Financing Coordination Mechanism issued a document saying that it would establish a normalized cooperation mechanism for real estate "white list" and continue to expand the coverage of "white list" financing. As of the end of April, Changsha has completed two batches of 54 real estate projects with a total financing scale of 17.883 billion yuan, and has obtained a total of 25 new financing credit projects with a credit line of 7.811 billion yuan.
In recent months, the real estate financing coordination mechanism has been continuously promoted, consolidating the responsibilities of relevant local entities and supporting the steady and healthy development of the real estate market. According to the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration, as of the end of March, commercial banks had completed the review of all the first batch of "white list" projects pushed by the coordination mechanism, of which more than 2,100 projects were approved and approved, with a total amount of more than 520 billion yuan.
In addition to the first batch of "white list" projects that have completed the review, Changsha, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Lanzhou, Haikou and other places have also disclosed the progress of the second batch of "white list" projects. The coverage of the "whitelist" project is being further expanded.
The financing coordination mechanism is progressing in an orderly manner
At the beginning of 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 an Urban Real Estate Financing Coordination Mechanism".
According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in early April, 31 provinces across the country and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have established provincial-level real estate financing coordination mechanisms, and all cities at and above the prefecture level (excluding municipalities directly under the central government) have established urban real estate financing coordination mechanisms.
While establishing a coordination mechanism for real estate financing in various localities and pushing the "white list" to financial institutions, financial institutions have also taken active actions to increase support for "white list" projects. At present, the six major state-owned banks (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China, Bank of Communications) and a number of joint-stock banks have actively deployed to support the reasonable financing needs of real estate projects, and have achieved corresponding results.
When lending to "whitelisted" projects, financial institutions seek "speed" by establishing green approval channels and optimizing business processes on the one hand, and "stability" by in-depth understanding of enterprise qualifications, project planning, construction progress and other information on the other.
Taking China CITIC Bank as an example, recently, the bank announced that after learning that the stock project "Yunzhou County" entered the first batch of "white list", the Fuzhou branch opened a green channel to improve the efficiency of underwriting and delivery, and realized 1 billion yuan of financing on February 2, which effectively alleviated the pressure on enterprises to advance funds before the Spring Festival, ensured the payment of wages to migrant workers, and effectively guaranteed the follow-up development and construction of the project.
"It's not that we will directly release the projects that are on the 'white list'." A state-owned bank told the Securities Daily that banks also need to conduct prudent risk assessments for "white list" projects, and the "green channel" is mainly reflected in priority acceptance, optimization of approval and lending processes, etc.
Meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises
"Recently, the real estate financing coordination mechanism has played a positive role in expanding the sources of funds in the real estate industry and meeting the reasonable financing needs of all kinds of real estate enterprises without discrimination." Wang Qing, chief macro analyst of Oriental Jincheng, said in an interview with the "Securities Daily" reporter that as of the end of March, the balance of real estate development loans was 13.76 trillion yuan, ending the previous continuous decline, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%, the growth rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than the end of the previous year, and the real estate development loans increased by 609 billion yuan in the first quarter.
Liu Shui, director of corporate research at the China Index Research Institute, also told the "Securities Daily" reporter that at present, the real estate financing coordination mechanism is distinguishing group risks from project risks, and accurately supporting real estate financing "without discrimination"; Prevent real estate risks and help ensure the delivery of buildings; Positive results have been achieved in guiding finance to increase support for the steady development of the real estate industry.
According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, 84% of the projects in the first batch of real estate projects are projects developed by private real estate enterprises and mixed-ownership real estate enterprises.
In addition, the reporter noticed that China Aoyuan, Country Garden, Greenland Group, Zhongnan Construction and other insuring real estate companies also have their projects selected into the first batch of "white list".
In response to investors' questions, Zhongnan Construction said that its projects under construction in Nanning have been selected into the "white list" of the urban real estate financing coordination mechanism, and the company will actively promote it and strive to deliver it before the end of September.
It is necessary to consolidate the responsibilities of all parties
The recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee emphasized that it is necessary to continue to prevent and resolve risks in key areas. We will continue to adhere to city-specific policies, consolidate the responsibilities of local governments, real estate enterprises, and financial institutions, and earnestly do a good job in ensuring the delivery of housing to protect the legitimate rights and interests of home buyers.
Wang Qing said that according to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the completed area of commercial housing in the first quarter fell by 20.7% year-on-year, reversing the situation of continuous positive growth since 2023, or indicating that the "guaranteed delivery of buildings" has entered the stage of "gnawing hard bones". In addition to stabilizing the property market by relaxing purchase restrictions and reducing residential mortgage interest rates, it is also an effective measure at this stage to effectively increase the financing support of financial institutions for real estate enterprises. Among them, further playing the role of the real estate financing coordination mechanism is a major force point.
Local governments, real estate enterprises and financial institutions all play an important role in the process of continuing to promote the real estate financing coordination mechanism.
"Local governments should improve the financing coordination mechanism; Financial institutions should speed up the speed of lending, so that the approved loan funds can be implemented into the project as soon as possible; Real estate enterprises should actively apply for the shortlist of projects, and earmark relevant funds for approval of project construction, and cannot misappropriate funds. Liu Shui said.
Wang Qing believes that local governments and financial regulatory departments at all levels can introduce supporting policies to guide banks and other financial institutions to expand the scale of real estate development loans and accelerate the pace of lending. At the same time, real estate enterprises should also effectively submit project financing needs according to policy requirements, especially to truly reflect their own assets and liabilities, sales and operations, and use credit funds in compliance with regulations. This will help banks control credit risks, enhance mutual trust between banks and enterprises, and improve the operational efficiency of the mechanism. Financial institutions should earnestly increase the intensity of credit supply on the premise of reasonably controlling credit risks.
"The real estate financing coordination mechanism has also boosted market confidence." Yan Yuejin, research director of the E-House Research Institute, suggested in an interview with the "Securities Daily" reporter that all localities should do a good job in coordinating various tasks when promoting the real estate financing coordination mechanism to ensure that the policy works in the same direction.