In 2023, China's real estate market is still in a downward stage and is in a downturn. In July, the Politburo meeting pointed out that the relationship between supply and demand in China's real estate market has undergone major changes, and risk prevention is the main tone of this year's real estate work.
At the same time, the Politburo meeting in July also pointed out that it is necessary to increase the construction and supply of affordable housing, actively promote the transformation of urban villages and the construction of public infrastructure for "flat and emergency purposes", and revitalize and transform all kinds of idle real estate. This year, the "three major projects" have been mentioned many times, and the "three major projects" are an important part of the reform of diversified housing supply, and they are also an important starting point for promoting the construction of a new model of real estate development.
Throughout 2023, in terms of the housing rental market, according to incomplete statistics, more than 160 policies have been introduced to support the high-quality development of the housing rental industry。Involving all aspects of supply and demand such as policy cultivation, financial support, tax incentives, market supervision, ** raising, incentives and subsidies, rent reduction and exemption, etc., the business model of rental housing projects is gradually clear under the policy support, and the market scale is expected to grow further.
First, the policy inventory
In 2023, a total of 20 policies related to the housing rental industry will be introduced, of which financial support will be the most, accounting for 45%;Policy cultivation accounted for 40%;Tax incentives and market supervision accounted for 10% and 5% respectively.
In terms of financial support, we will increase financing support through credit, bonds, asset-backed **, REITs, etc。Among them, for special types of housing rental assets such as "commercial lease to lease", "industrial lease to lease" and "collective leased land", the approval conditions for housing lease loans will be optimized, and financial support will be provided according to the proportion of residential asset loans.
In terms of policy cultivation, we will increase the construction and supply of affordable rental housing, and actively promote the transformation of urban villages and the construction of public infrastructure for both ordinary and emergency purposes。In 2023, the first economic work conference, the first executive meeting, the enlarged meeting of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and the national housing and urban-rural construction work conference all mentioned supporting the construction of the "three major projects" to promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market.
In terms of tax incentives, taxes and fees related to affordable housing will be reduced and exempted。Specific measures include exemption from urban land use tax and stamp duty, and reduction of deed tax on the purchase of affordable housing.
In terms of market supervision, the fees for housing rental brokerage services of real estate brokerage institutions are regulated。In May, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Opinions on Regulating Real Estate Brokerage Services", which clearly put forward ten opinions on the problems of some real estate brokerage institutions taking advantage of the advantages of customer sources to charge excessive fees, unspecified prices, and fees, and took comprehensive measures such as interviews to carry out key supervision.
2. Local policies
More than 140 relevant policies have been issued by various localities, involving management measures, policy optimization, regulatory policies, supply policies, financial support, identification methods, policy support and support。Among them, management methods, policy optimization and regulatory policies are the mainstay, accounting for 76% in total. From the perspective of cities, the four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and the two new first-tier cities of Hangzhou and Chengdu have issued the most policies, with more than 5 policies issued.
Keyword 1: regulation
After several years of rapid development, the housing rental industry has gradually changed to high-quality development, and there are also a series of problems in the process.
Regulatory aspects of fundsBeijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and other cities have issued measures for the supervision of housing leasing funds, requiring leasing enterprises to open special accounts in the supervised banks, and pay rent, deposits and other funds into the special account management to enhance the security of funds;In addition, the amount of rent collected by the leasing enterprise from the lessee at a time shall generally not exceed three months, and the deposit shall not exceed one month.
Market Conduct RegulationShanghai, Chengdu, Xi'an, Ningbo and other places have vigorously cracked down on all kinds of violations of laws and regulations in the rental market, requiring housing leasing enterprises, real estate brokerage institutions, and online information platforms to register market entities in accordance with the law, and promptly file with the housing management department to record the bad behavior of enterprises and file them.
Keyword 2: financial support
Whether it is at the first level or at the local level, strong financial support is given to the housing rental market, of which the financial support at the local level is mainly based on incentives and subsidies. The target category of incentives and subsidies is housing rental enterprises;The other category is eligible households。Xiamen, Chongqing, Yichang, Cixi, Huanggang and other cities will give special subsidies to specialized housing rental enterprises or affordable rental housing projects in accordance with certain standardsHainan, Chengdu, Yiyang, Zigong and other provinces and municipalities will issue rental subsidies to eligible urban housing security recipients who rent housing in the market.
Keyword 3: affordable rental housing
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, in the past two years, 5.08 million units (rooms) of affordable rental housing have been built and raised across the country, and 60% of the "14th Five-Year Plan" task has been completed, which is closely related to policy support. Various cities have issued 37 policies related to affordable rental housing, accounting for nearly 30% of the total policies, covering a wide range of policies, such as ** raising, project identification, preferential policies, qualification determination, rent setting standards, etc., covering project construction, project management, project operation, project supervision and other processes.
Under the guidance of the top-level design of "accelerating the establishment of a housing system with multi-subject supply, multi-channel security, and simultaneous rental and purchase", all localities will raise funds through new construction, reconstruction, transformation, and revitalization of stock, and support state-owned enterprises at all levels, colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, public institutions, private enterprises and other market entities to actively participate in the construction and operation of affordable rental housing.
Keyword 4: Provident fund withdrawal
In 2023, according to incomplete statistics, from first-tier cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to small cities such as Xinji, about 24 cities will optimize the relevant conditions and processes for withdrawing housing provident funds, increase support for rental groups, and reduce the burden of renting.
The policy mainly focuses on increasing the amount of provident fund withdrawal, increasing the number of withdrawals, relaxing the withdrawal conditions, and supporting the direct payment of rent by the provident fund。Among them, the policy of increasing the withdrawal limit is the most, accounting for more than 70%, especially for multi-child families, and many places indicate that they can withdraw according to the maximum amount.
Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Zhengzhou support the direct payment of rent by the provident fund, among which Shanghai has strengthened the cooperation between government and enterprises, and carried out the service of withdrawing the provident fund for group rental housing and paying rent on time, so as to bring high-quality long-term customers and stable rental income to enterprises and reduce management costs.
3. Summary
2023 is a year of vigorous construction of affordable rental housing, according to statistics, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Jinhua and other provinces and cities have completed the annual fundraising task ahead of schedule, and relevant policies have been introduced across the country to encourage and support multi-subject participation and multi-channel fundraising, and positive results have been achievedIn terms of finance, REITs and credit have made the closed-loop of "investment, financing, construction, management and withdrawal" of the housing rental industry more matureIn addition, relevant policies such as capital supervision, market conduct norms, and risk warnings promote the high-quality development of the housing rental industry.
In December 2023, the ** Economic Work Conference and the National Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Work Conference proposed that in 2024, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promoting stability with progress, establishing first and then breaking down, actively and steadily resolving real estate risks, and accelerating the construction of affordable housing, the construction of public infrastructure for both ordinary and emergency purposes, and the transformation of urban villages. It is expected that in 2024, the supporting policies of the "three major projects" will be accelerated, and the placement of affordable housing will be piloted in some cities, and the commercial housing will gradually return to the commodity attributes.