During a press conference on the 8th, Zheng Chajie, the Director of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, revealed critical government plans aimed at stabilizing the real estate market and curbing further downturns. One of the main strategies involves boosting financing for what are being referred to as “white list” projects.
As reported by CCTV, all 297 prefecture-level cities and above in China have implemented a real estate financing coordination mechanism. Commercial banks have already approved over 5,700 white list projects, totaling around 1.43 trillion RMB (approximately 202.1 billion USD) in financing. This funding is crucial for ensuring the timely delivery of more than 4 million housing units.
To tackle the challenges posed by disruptions in the real estate funding chain, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, in collaboration with the Financial Regulatory Administration, issued a joint notice this past January. This notice set in motion the creation of a city-level real estate financing coordination mechanism, commonly referred to as the real estate white list. Local governments are responsible for identifying high-quality real estate projects, which are then submitted to commercial banks. These banks evaluate the projects and decide on loan approvals based on specific criteria and thresholds. With adequate financial backing, there’s an optimistic outlook for the on-time completion of these projects.
