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The People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, will dynamically monitor and analyze marginal changes in the real estate market and implement differentiated housing credit policies, in a bid to provide financial support for the stable and healthy development of the property market, an article on its official website said on Wednesday.

According to the article, the PBC held a work conference for the financial market in 2023 on February 10, during which it mentioned the need to improve the ability of financial services to expand domestic demand and build a modern industrial system.

In terms of the property market, the PBC said that it will actively provide financial services to ensure the delivery of buildings, and increase financial support for house leasing, in order to promote the smooth transition of the real estate industry to a new development model.

According to a joint statement issued by the PBC and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in January, cities may maintain, lower or cancel the lower limit of first-home benchmark loan rates in stages, if sales prices of newly built commercial housing have declined for three consecutive months both month-on-month and year-on-year.

"The dynamic monitoring and differentiated credit policies can respond more precisely to new changes in the real estate market in different regions, thus further promoting stable development of the sector," Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In December last year, the office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs said that China needs to fully recognize the importance of the real estate sector and do more to propel housing consumption.

The authorities' repeated references to the real estate market also signal that more policy tools will be used to support real estate recovery this year, Yan noted.

During a recent interview with the Global Times, Steven Alan Barnett, senior IMF resident representative in China, said that the real estate sector plays a large role in China's economy and financial system. Recently, the government has taken welcome steps to reduce problems in the sector - such as support for funding to complete pre-sold housing projects.

"Continued efforts would help ensure that risks in the property market are fully contained and that, over the medium term, the housing market is more balanced and of a sustainable size," he noted.

Global Times