(Yicai Global) July 28 -- China should further lower the down payment proportion and mortgage rates for first-time home buyers, the minister for housing and urban-rural development suggested.

China should continue to consolidate the stabilization and upward momentum of the real estate market and support the rigid demand, Ni Hong said during a meeting with executives from eight state-owned and private companies from the construction engineering, building technologies, and real estate sectors, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced today.

With the meeting, Ni hoped to actively involve construction companies and property developers in the building of affordable housing projects, urban village revamping, and construction of public infrastructures to spur their transformation, upgrading, and high-quality development.

Moreover, Ni pointed out that policies and measures should be implemented to encourage individuals to improve their living condition. For instance, to deduct taxes for individual trading residential property, and to give loan interest rate discounts to people who sell their only home to purchase improved housing. Currently, as long as people have used the loan to purchase a house, they are no longer eligible for loan interest rate discounts.

On July 24, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the country’s top leadership body, proposed in a meeting to timely adjust and optimize policies for the real estate sector.

Editor: Futura Costaglione