Four out of five of China's urbanites own their own homes and 94
percent own some form of accommodation, the ongoing International
Conference on Financing Social Housing heard on Thursday.
Since the mid 1990s, 80 percent of China's public housing had been
sold to local residents, Vice-Minister of Construction Liu Zhifeng
told the conference in Baotou City, north China's Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Low-rent or free housing used to be one of the benefits provided by
the state or state-owned enterprises before the country launched
its opening-up and reform.
But the cost of the system made it increasingly hard for
governments at all levels to build more and better houses. It
became a headache for city residents to find suitable homes.
The central government began reforming the housing system back in
the mid 1980s by selling luxury and spacious houses at market
prices, providing middle-income families with cheaper homes, and
accommodating low-income residents in low-rent apartments.
Governments at all levels have provided various preferential
schemes to improve living conditions in the world's most populous
country.
Developers of affordable homes can enjoy 21 tax reduction and
exemption programs while keeping their profit margins below three
percent.
Liu Zhifeng said a housing investment and purchase system featuring
proportional contributions from the state, enterprises and
individuals had been established gradually. Market forces played an
increasingly significant role in coordinating housing
resources.
Latest statistics with the People's Bank of China (PBC) showed that
housing loans issued by China's commercial banks in 2001 were 32.55
times of that in 1997.
Housing loans issued by domestic financial institutions totaled 663
billion yuan (US$80 billion) by the end of June. Housing loans had
become critical in the credit consumption of the Chinese
people.
Moreover, a recent survey showed that 48 percent of Chinese
citizens wished to purchase or swap houses in the next couple of
years. Sixty-seven percent of the people who had bought public
homes wanted to improve their living conditions by purchasing new
homes or exchanging houses.
As
China's social housing system develops, a growing number of people,
especially urban dwellers, will purchase their own houses with
funds they accumulated themselves and the equivalent amount paid by
their work units for housing buying as well as bank loans.
(Xinhua News
Agency August 9, 2002)