(Yicai Global) March 8 -- Ni Hong, China’s minister for housing and urban-rural development, said he is “very confident” about the stabilization and recovery of the country’s real estate market.

Confidence is returning, with more and more people seeking information from property sales offices, Ni told reporters yesterday during the Two Sessions, China’s annual policy setting meetings. Transactions are rising after a 13-month decline in sales of new and lived-in homes, he added.

Ni said he had upgraded his view on the real estate market from “confident” early this year to “very confident” now. 

Although price changes remained mixed in 70 medium and big cities over the past two months, house prices are generally stable overall, Ni noted.

The government has implemented policies to bolster buying of new builds and reasonably support that of second-hand homes. The reasonable financing needs of real estate developers has been met, and the work of ensuring the timely delivery of pre-sold homes is being vigorously pushed forward to protect buyers’ rights and interests, Ni added.

China adheres to the principle that ‘houses are for living in, not for speculation’ and will continue to strive to prevent speculators from returning to the market and support the stable growth of demand, he pointed out.

The government will equally support excellent state-owned and private real estate companies in sound financial positions, help them improve their balance sheets, and meet their reasonable demand for financing to resolve potential risks in the real estate market, Ni said, adding that it will also help debt-ridden developers save themselves while they take the legal consequences for any actions of theirs contrary to the interests of buyers.

Moreover, China will raise the stock of affordable rental properties and build more long-term rental homes and focus on solving the housing problems of young people in urban areas, Ni noted.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione