CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Zheyuan Jin, Xiang Mao, Lingyue Sun and Yi Wu, Merits & Tree Law Offices
incentives for specific groups, such as young families and first-time buyers. By the end of 2024, the policy had expanded to over 100 cit - ies, significantly improving housing affordabil - ity and contributing to market recovery. These measures reflected a co-ordinated approach to stabilising the real estate sector and supporting economic growth. “Trade-in” Programme of Residential Property Nationwide, over 100 cities in China have launched housing “trade-in” programmes, allowing residents to exchange their old homes for new ones. Notably, all first-tier cities have joined this initiative. These programmes aim to stimulate the real estate market, improve hous - ing quality and meet the evolving needs of urban residents, reflecting a co-ordinated effort to revi - talise the property sector and promote sustain - able urban development. In late April 2024, Shenzhen became the first first-tier city to support such a programme. On 23 April 2024, the Shenzhen Real Estate Asso - ciation and the Real Estate Intermediary Asso - ciation jointly launched the “Exchange for new home” campaign, encouraging developers, agencies and buyers to sign agreements for “sell old, buy new” transactions. The first phase involved 21 real estate agencies, 13 developers, and their projects. The association also urged developers and agencies to offer exclusive dis - counts on home prices and commissions for participants. Following Shenzhen, Shanghai actively joined the effort. On 3 May 2024, the Shanghai Real Estate Association and the Real Estate Broker Association jointly initiated a similar “trade-in” programme. Over 20 developers, nearly ten agencies and more than 30 projects, primarily
located in the city’s five new urban areas, partici - pated in the first phase. These initiatives reflect a growing trend to stimulate housing demand and support urban development in major cities. Financing to the Real Estate Industry: A Response to the Difficulties of the Developers In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) and National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) jointly issued a Notice on Further Lev - eraging the Urban Real Estate Financing Coor - dination Mechanism to Meet the Reasonable Financing Needs of Real Estate Projects, guiding local governments to establish urban real estate financing co-ordination mechanisms. To ensure the effective implementation of this mechanism, the two ministries established a national task force in April 2024, working intensively to over - see and guide local task forces in their opera - tions. In June of that year, with the approval of the State Council, the NFRA and MOHURD jointly issued a notice proposing multiple opti - misation measures to improve the efficiency and quality of the “whitelist” project submission pro - cess. These measures aimed to enhance the role of the urban financing co-ordination mechanism, meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate projects to identify potential risks, and co-ordinate efforts to ensure timely completion and handover to buyers of pre-sold homes. According to the statistic reports, by the end of 2024, commercial banks had approved 5,39 “whitelist” projects, with approved financing amounting to nearly CNY1.4 trillion. Driven by the urban co-ordination mechanism, eligible “whitelist” projects had received timely financial support, playing a positive role in promoting project completion and delivery, protecting the legal rights of homebuyers, and stabilising the real estate market.
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