Housing should be for living in, not speculation: Xi Jinping

Beijing

CHINESE President Xi Jinping renewed his call to ensure housing market stability and pledged that authorities will help meet demand by adding more supply of homes.

"Houses are built to be inhabited, not for speculation," he said on Wednesday in his address at the 19th Party Congress Wednesday in Beijing. "China will accelerate establishing a system with supply from multiple parties, affordability from different channels, and make rental housing as important as home purchasing," he added.

The speculation reference closely echoes language issued in December, when Mr Xi gathered top lieutenants for the Central Economic Work Conference to chart policy for 2017.

In his speech on Wednesday, Mr Xi also called for sound macroeconomic regulation and more effective market mechanisms.

China's leaders are determined to cool rising home prices, imposing buying restrictions to rein in demand. Curbs in bigger cities have spurred buying in smaller ones, forcing local authorities to reverse policies put in place last year to reduce a glut of unsold homes.

The central government earlier this year unveiled an initiative to increase rental homes, including a trial in 12 large cities that would potentially be expanded across the nation.

Part of the demand for housing in big cities has been driven by the availability of public services, such as access to schools.

Some cities such as Beijing are considering extending those public amenities to renters as one possible way to slow demand for buying homes.

Home prices rose in fewer Chinese cities in August and declined in some of the nation's hottest markets as authorities rolled out a series of restrictions to tame the property boom. BLOOMBERG

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