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A Chinese official on Wednesday vowed to implement policies to meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate firms of different ownerships equally and support those having temporary short-term cash flow troubles.
Dong Jianguo, deputy head of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said at a seminar on Wednesday that China's financial regulators have issued policies targeting some developers' debt default risks, but it will take time to fully resolve these risks.
"We will continue to cooperate with financial regulators to implement policy support without discrimination, meet the reasonable financing demand of developers of various ownerships, and support developers with short-term cash flow troubles," said Dong, adding that the measures will help developers resume normal operations.
The recently concluded Central Economic Work Conference emphasized the mitigation of risks related to the real estate sector.
Active and prudent efforts should be made to defuse risks in the property sector, the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises of different ownerships should be met equally, and the building of a new development model for the real estate sector should be accelerated, the conference noted.
The conference signaled the central government's intense attention to defusing financial risks in the sector, Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.
"Notably, the conference also mentioned plans to coordinate measures to mitigate risks related to the real estate sector, local government debt, and small- and medium-sized financial institutions, which means that risk defusing requires more systematic and comprehensive guidelines," Yan noted.
During the annual meeting, Dong noted that developers that have violated the law, defaulted on debt or been unable to keep operating, should be eliminated in accordance with market rules, which is the result of the survival of the fittest in the market.
"However, it was inaccurate to call debt defaults of some developers 'collapses' or 'cash flow problems,'" he noted.
Debt default of a real estate developer may not directly suspend the operation of its ongoing project, said Dong, adding that using an inaccurate term to describe a debt default may cause a crisis of confidence across the market and add to enterprises' operational burdens.
In order to comprehensively resolve real estate related financial risks, China's big
six state-owned banks held talks with real estate companies in early December regarding financing demand amid sluggish sales.
Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in an article published in the People's Daily on December 4 that the financial sector should strengthen coordination with fiscal and regulatory policies, proactively adapt to the major transformation of the real estate market, adhere to the principle that houses are for living in, not for speculation, and prevent the risk spillover of the real estate market.
From January to November, sales of secondhand homes accounted for a record 37.1 percent of all house transactions, said Dong during the annual meeting.