(Yicai) Feb. 12 -- The governments of Liaoning province, Chongqing, Guangdong province, and several other Chinese provincial-level regions have disclosed plans to boost purchases of unsold residential properties since the start of this year.

Liaoning plans to acquire 120,000 rental-type affordable homes via a residential housing purchase scheme by 2027, with 45,000 units this year, it announced on Jan. 27. Chongqing will coordinate refinancing policy tools for affordable housing to support the acquisition of unsold residential properties, it said on Jan. 22.

According to a plan issued on Jan. 15, Guangdong aims to use special bond funds to reclaim idle land and buy unsold residential homes for affordable housing purposes. Mianyang in Sichuan province has designated two state-owned firms to purchase houses, supporting them with central and local government subsidies, special bonds, and bank loans.

These are positive moves for residential property destocking this year and could gradually resolve the high inventory issues in the real estate market, according to industry experts.

Since the Chinese government announced plans to buy unsold residential properties for affordable housing on May 17 last year, over 60 cities have expressed support for purchasing unsold housing stock, with more than 32 cities releasing detailed implementation rules before this year's Chinese New Year, according to CCTV News.

Local governments will intensify their efforts to buy unsold housing stock with stronger financial support this year, said Yan Yuejin, deputy director of Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute.

"Looking ahead, local governments will continue to stabilize the real estate market, with room for improvement in various destocking indicators," Yan told Yicai. "The direct impact of inventory purchases will be to activate idle stock, helping balance housing supply and demand, stabilize prices, and promote positive market development."

The broad real estate market stock exceeds 12 billion square meters, according to calculations by real estate research firm CRIC. However, many cities have seen a significant drop in new residential housing stock thanks to various policies kicking in since the second half of last year.

The inventory clearance period for new residential properties, or how long it will take to clear existing stock of new homes at the current sales pace, in 100 major cities fell to 21.3 months at the end of last year from a peak of 28.8 months last June, indicating a turning point in the destocking cycle, according to a report from Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute.

Editor: Martin Kadiev