As realty shares rally, housing hopes rise

Strong positive sentiment lifted Chinese real estate shares on Monday, prompting experts to express confidence that the recovering capital market confidence, coupled with local-level optimized property policies, will help stabilize the housing market.

Property shares rose 0.67 percent on average, led by Hua Yuan Property that surged by maximum 10 percent, according to Stockstar, a provider of financial information.

"The stock market's performance was in line with the central government's guidance as well as the latest policies at the local level," said Chen Jie, director of the Center for Housing and Urban-Rural Development with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

On April 30, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee stressed that it is necessary to continue to take precautions and resolve risks in key areas. While implementing their respective local policy, key stakeholders in each city, including local governments, real estate enterprises and financial institutions, will take responsibility for ensuring the delivery of property projects to homebuyers and protect the latter's legitimate rights and interests.

"The (April 30) meeting stressed that the delivered housing projects should be livable, equipped with all the supporting facilities, which will create related demand along the industry chain," said Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Guangdong Planning Institute's residential policy research center.

On supply and demand, the meeting said Chinese people's expectations for high-quality housing, measures for the market's absorption of property inventory and optimization of new demand should be coordinated.

The meeting also said close attention should be paid to building a new model for real estate development and promoting the high-quality development of the property industry.

Beijing and Shanghai were among the first big cities to grasp the significance of the meeting. Several other cities are expected to further optimize their housing policies this month, said Yan Yuejin, director of the Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institution.

On April 30 itself, Beijing's municipal government said eligible households or single adults living in the national capital will be allowed to buy an additional apartment outside the Fifth Ring Road. On Friday, Shanghai launched a trade-in initiative for commercial real estate.

For people mulling sale of their existing property to buy new homes, Shanghai proposed that potential homebuyers should first sign an expression of interest with developers of new housing projects, so that their existing homes can be given priority by real estate agencies in the secondary trading market. The transaction for a new home can be completed after the sale of the old home.

More than 30 residential projects in Shanghai regions, including Jiading, Songjiang, Qingpu, Fengxian and Lin-gang Special Area, became the first batch of participants in the new initiative, according to Shanghai Observer, a Chinese-language news website.