Reporter Wu Jing and Lu Zhikun report from Beijing
On May 17, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration of Financial Regulation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and other ministries and commissions issued policy "combination fists" for the real estate industry, while expanding the scope of "guaranteed delivery" assistance, by lowering the national minimum down payment ratio, provident fund loan interest rate, canceling the lower limit of housing loan interest rates, purchasing stock housing as affordable housing and other measures to stimulate the release of housing demand and accelerate destocking.
Mortgage optimization policy "three arrows at the same time"
On the afternoon of May 17, the People's Bank of China issued three real estate-related notices in a row, further relaxing the financial policy on personal housing loans. The three notices are the Notice on Adjusting the Interest Rate Policy for Commercial Personal Housing Loans, the Notice on Reducing the Interest Rate on Personal Housing Provident Fund Loans, and the Notice on Adjusting the Policy on the Minimum Down Payment Ratio for Personal Housing Loans jointly issued by the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Financial Regulation.
In terms of down payment ratio, according to the Notice on Adjusting the Minimum Down Payment Ratio Policy for Personal Housing Loans issued by the People's Bank of China and the State Financial Supervision and Administration Administration, for resident families who take out loans to purchase commercial housing, the minimum down payment ratio for commercial personal housing loans for the first house is adjusted to not less than 15%, and the minimum down payment ratio for commercial personal housing loans for second houses is adjusted to not less than 25%.
On this basis, the provincial-level branches of the People's Bank of China and the dispatched agencies of the State Financial Supervision and Administration independently determine the lower limit of the minimum down payment ratio for commercial personal housing loans for the first and second houses in each city under their jurisdiction in accordance with the requirements of urban regulation and control and in accordance with the principle of city-specific policies.
In terms of personal housing loan interest rates, the People's Bank of China's Notice on Adjusting the Interest Rate Policy for Commercial Personal Housing Loans proposes to cancel the lower limit of the interest rate policy for commercial personal housing loans for the first and second houses at the national level.
Subsequently, the provincial-level branches of the People's Bank of China guided the self-discipline mechanism of market interest rate pricing at the provincial level in accordance with the principle of city-specific policy, and independently determined whether to set the lower and lower limits of the commercial personal housing loan interest rates in each city within their jurisdiction (if any) according to the real estate market situation in each city within their jurisdiction and the regulation and control requirements of the local government; Banking financial institutions should be based on the provincial market interest rate pricing self-discipline mechanism to determine the lower limit of interest rates (if any), combined with the institution's operating conditions, customer risk status and other factors, reasonable determination of the specific interest rate level of each loan.
It is understood that the lower limit of the first and second home loan interest rates was LPR-20BP for more than 5 years and LPR+20BP for more than 5 years, and the lower limit of the first home loan interest rate can be cancelled in stages for cities where new home prices have fallen for 3 consecutive months year-on-year.
According to data released by the central bank, as of the end of March, 75 of the country's 343 cities (prefecture level and above) have lowered the lower limit of the interest rate on the first home loan, and 64 have canceled the lower limit.
According to the monitoring of the China Index Research Institute, more than 20 cities announced the phased cancellation of the lower limit of the first home loan interest rate from April; In May, Nanjing and Hefei successively announced the cancellation of the lower limit of the interest rate for the first home loan.
Chen Wenjing, director of market research at the China Index Research Institute, pointed out that at present, some banks in some cities have implemented the first home loan interest rate at about 3.1%, and the central bank has canceled the lower limit of the national mortgage interest rate, and the policy is extended to the second house, and it is expected that more cities will reduce the mortgage interest rate, and the space for the reduction of the mortgage interest rate in the first-tier and core second-tier cities is also expected to open.
In addition, the central bank's "Notice on Reducing the Interest Rate of Personal Housing Provident Fund Loans" proposes to reduce the interest rate of personal housing provident fund loans by 0.25 percentage points from May 18, 2024, and the interest rates of the first set of personal housing provident fund loans for less than 5 years (including 5 years) and more than 5 years will be adjusted to 2.35% and 2.85% respectively; The interest rate of the second set of personal housing provident fund loans for less than 5 years (including 5 years) and more than 5 years will be adjusted to not less than 2.775% and 3.325% respectively.
After this adjustment, the interest rates of the first and second sets of provident fund loans for more than 5 years have been reduced from 3.1% and 3.575% to 2.85% and 3.325% respectively, further reducing the cost of home ownership.
How to digest the stock of real estate?
Since last year, with the transformation of supply and demand in the real estate market, various localities have continued to stimulate the release of demand by lowering the threshold for buying houses, issuing housing purchase subsidies, reducing or exempting relevant transaction taxes and fees, and "trade-in". However, the situation of rising inventories and price pressure has not improved significantly.
According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on May 17, the sales area of newly built commercial housing in the country from January to April was 290 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 20.2%. As of the end of April, the area of commercial housing for sale was 746 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 15.7%.
In April, among the 70 large and medium-sized cities, housing prices in all lines continued to decline, and the year-on-year decline expanded. The number of cities with falling new home prices increased, from 57 in the previous month to 64. There was only 1 city where second-hand housing prices rose, and 69 cities saw a decline in housing prices.
It is understood that on April 30 this year, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee once again set the tone for the property market, and then the prevention and resolution of real estate risks is still the focus, and the meeting for the first time proposed 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, and coordinate the study and digestion of stock real estate and optimize the policy measures of incremental housing".
It is understood that this is the first time in 9 years that the central government has given a relevant mention of real estate destocking. A number of brokerage research reports pointed out that the current real estate inventory and de-escalation pressure is relatively large, which is the main source of contradiction in the industry's risk.
On the morning of May 17, at the national video conference on the work of ensuring the delivery of housing, He Lifeng, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. In terms of how to destock, he said that for cities with more inventory of commercial housing, the government can order on demand and purchase some commercial housing at a reasonable price as appropriate. It is necessary to continue to do a good job in the prevention and disposal of debt risks of real estate enterprises, and solidly promote the construction of affordable housing, the transformation of urban villages, and the construction of public infrastructure for both ordinary and emergency purposes.
On the afternoon of May 17, the State Council held a regular policy briefing, at which responsible persons of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the People's Bank of China, and the State Administration of Financial Supervision introduced the relevant policies for effectively ensuring the delivery of housing.
Tao Ling, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said that the central bank will set up a 300 billion yuan affordable housing re-loan, encourage and guide financial institutions to follow the principles of marketization and rule of law, and support local state-owned enterprises to purchase completed and unsold commercial housing at a reasonable price for placement or rental affordable housing.
It is understood that the 300 billion yuan re-lending interest rate is 1.75%, the term is 1 year, and the period 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.
For the acquisition entity, according to Tao Ling, 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 debt 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.
It is understood that the policy adopts the principle of voluntary participation, and each city government decides whether to participate independently according to local affordable housing demand, commercial housing inventory level and other factors. Wage earners who meet the conditions for protection can choose whether to participate in the placement or leasing at their own discretion. The real estate enterprise negotiates on an equal footing with the acquirer and decides whether to sell on its own. In accordance with the principles of risk-bearing and business sustainability, 21 banks made their own decisions on whether to issue loans to the acquirer.
Tao Ling said that this policy 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 buildings 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.
For the above policies, the People's Bank of China will issue an official document in the near future, namely the Notice on Matters Concerning the Establishment of Affordable Housing Reloans.
It is worth noting that in response to destocking, this briefing also mentioned how to digest the stock of land. It is understood that the Ministry of Natural Resources has previously issued a notice, requiring that the new land supply in various places needs to be combined with the local commercial housing de-cycle and the revitalization of the stock scale, and the revitalization of the stock of land scale as an important basis for incremental supply.
At the briefing, Liu Guohong, vice minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources, pointed out that in terms of digesting the stock of land, "there are mainly two lines: one line is to strictly dispose of idle land in accordance with the law, and the other line is to increase support for the revitalization and utilization of stock land." It stressed that it will take into account the actual situation and support local governments to recover idle land at reasonable prices in accordance with the principle of "purchasing according to demand" for the construction of affordable housing. At the same time, it is also mentioned that the role of the secondary market of land should be brought into play, and the transfer of advance notice registration and "transfer with mortgage" should be supported, and the transfer or cooperative development should be encouraged.
In terms of financial support, Liu Guohong mentioned that for the recovered and acquired land used for affordable housing projects, financial support can be provided through local government special bonds, and preferential tax policies for affordable housing can also be enjoyed.
Expand the scope of assistance for "guaranteed delivery of housing".
On the morning of May 17, at the national video conference on ensuring the delivery of housing, He Lifeng emphasized that real estate is related to the vital interests of the people and the overall situation of economic and social development. At present, it is necessary to focus on classifying and promoting the disposal of commercial housing projects under construction that have been sold and difficult to deliver, fully support the financing and completion delivery of projects that should be renewed, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of buyers. At the same time, the relevant local governments should proceed from the actual situation and properly dispose of the idle stock of residential land that has been transferred by means of recovery and acquisition, so as to help real estate enterprises with financial difficulties to solve their difficulties.
He Lifeng demanded that the responsibilities of local governments, real estate enterprises and financial institutions should be consolidated, overall coordination should be strengthened, the role of urban real estate financing coordination mechanism and re-lending policy should be given full play, and the guidance and support for cities and real estate enterprises should be strengthened, and the work of ensuring the delivery of housing should be effectively promoted in an orderly and effective manner.
At the regular policy briefing held by the State Council in the afternoon of the same day, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the People's Bank of China, and the State Administration of Financial Supervision made corresponding requirements for the above-mentioned guaranteed delivery of housing.
At the above-mentioned briefing, Dong Jianguo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, once again emphasized that "we should do a good job in the battle of ensuring the delivery of commercial housing projects and prevent the risk of unfinished work", and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, together with the State Administration of Financial Supervision and other departments, will introduce a work plan for the tough battle of ensuring the delivery of housing in urban commercial housing projects. Specific measures include:
First, the city government should comprehensively investigate the city's commercial housing projects under construction and sold, determine the projects that are difficult to deliver, accurately grasp the existing problems, and establish a project ledger.
Second, according to the investigation situation, in accordance with the principles of marketization and rule of law, guide the project development enterprise to formulate a "one project, one policy" disposal plan. Among them, the rule of law is to promote insolvent projects into the judicial disposal procedure, the bankruptcy of bankruptcy, the reorganization of reorganization, and the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of home buyers should be put in the first place.
Third, for projects that require judicial disposal, local people's courts will accept relevant cases in a timely manner to improve the efficiency of judicial disposal; Prudently take property preservation measures for tough projects to support project construction and delivery.
Fourth, it is necessary to establish a long-term mechanism, including promoting the sale of existing houses in an orderly manner, and supporting commercial housing projects to meet the sales conditions of existing houses through the "white list" financing policy; For those who continue to implement pre-sale, the pre-sale funds of the project shall be strictly supervised to prevent the emergence of new risks.
At present, the "guaranteed delivery" project focuses on the commercial housing projects that have been sold and difficult to deliver under construction, and for the projects that should be renewed, the central government emphasizes that it is necessary to fully support the project financing and completion delivery.
Xiao Yuanqi, deputy director of the State Administration of Financial Regulation, said that after the State Administration of Financial Supervision and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the "Notice on the Establishment of an Urban Real Estate Financing Coordination Mechanism" in January this year, it will also issue the "Notice on Further Playing the Role of the Urban Real Estate Financing Coordination Mechanism to Meet the Reasonable Financing Needs of Real Estate Projects" in the near future.
The "whitelist" projects of real estate enterprises with different ownership systems should be treated equally, and the compliant "whitelist" projects should be "fully loaned", and on the premise of controlling risks, new loans, extension of existing loans, and issuance of M&A loans can be used to provide financing support.
According to the data released by the State Administration of Financial Supervision at the briefing, as of May 16, commercial banks have approved the "white list" project loan amount of 935 billion yuan according to the internal approval process.
(Editor: Lu Zhikun Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Yan Jingning)
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