Chinese authorities have unveiled sweeping measures to rescue the country's struggling property sector, as regulators seek to offset years of harsh pandemic curbs and a real estate crackdown that have stalled the world's number-two economy.
The banking regulator and central bank on Friday issued a 16-point set of internal directives to promote the "stable and healthy development" of the industry, which were reported.
The measures include credit support for debt-laden housing developers, financial support to ensure the completion and handover of projects to homeowners, and assistance for deferred-payment loans for homebuyers. That came on the same day the National Health Commission issued 20 rules for optimising China's zero-Covid policy, where certain restrictions were relaxed to limit its social and economic impact.
Beijing imposed widespread lending curbs on property developers in 2020, which exacerbated their liquidity issues and caused several of the largest to default on bond payments.
The knock-on effects on the massive real estate sector were severe, with cash-strapped developer Evergrande -- China's largest -- and others failing to complete projects, sparking mortgage boycotts and protests from homebuyers. The measures emphasised guaranteeing the handover of buildings, and ordered development banks to provide ‘special loans’ for the purpose.