Stabilization of real estate sector among steps to enhance market confidence

The top leadership of the Communist Party of China called for stabilizing the real estate market and strengthening fiscal and monetary policy support at a meeting on Thursday, vowing to strive to hit the targets for this year's economic and social development.

Economists and market analysts said the meeting reflected top policymakers' intensified emphasis on reviving market confidence and stabilizing economic prospects amid headwinds.

A number of concrete measures to stabilize the property market and boost fiscal spending are expected, which will lay the foundation for the world's second-largest economy to achieve steady growth this year and next, they added.

The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held the meeting on Thursday to analyze and study the current economic situation and make further arrangements for economic work.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting.

It was agreed at the meeting that the Chinese economy has posted a generally stable performance this year, making progress while ensuring stability. It is necessary to take a comprehensive, objective and sober view of the current economic situation, face the difficulties squarely and remain confident, said a statement issued after the meeting.

The country should effectively implement existing policies, step up efforts to roll out incremental policies and strive to accomplish the targets and tasks for this year's economic and social development, it added.

"The meeting took place in September, ahead of the typical arrangements in previous years, underscoring the central leadership's heightened focus on the economic situation and macroeconomic policy," said Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities.

Luo said that the meeting sent a clear signal that policy measures will be reinforced to tackle the downward pressure facing the economy since the second quarter, including lukewarm sentiment and demand, the real estate downturn and the ailing stock market.

It was decided at the meeting to strengthen countercyclical adjustments of fiscal and monetary policies, ensure necessary fiscal expenditure and implement impactful interest rate cuts, after the country's central bank unveiled a package of monetary easing measures on Tuesday.

The meeting also underlined promoting the stabilization of the real estate market and stopping it from further declining, outlining measures including strictly managing new commercial housing construction, increasing loans for "white list" projects, vitalizing idle land stock and adjusting housing purchase restrictions.

Chang Haizhong, executive director of corporates at ratings agency Fitch Bohua, said, "The meeting has set a very positive tone for the macro policy mix to be introduced.

"Given the supportive policies that are either being or are soon to be introduced, we believe it is still possible for China to achieve the annual growth target (of around 5 percent) this year."

Chang added that the upcoming policy mix may include the issuance of additional central government bonds to expand fiscal spending, with the top legislature likely to approve an adjusted central budget next month, and government-backed plans to purchase the idle land stock of real estate companies.

Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Golden Credit Rating International, said: "The meeting has placed real estate in an unprecedentedly important position, and has made specific arrangements for significantly strengthening the policy support for both the supply and demand sides of the real estate industry."

"This will help effectively boost market confidence and help the real estate industry achieve a soft landing as soon as possible," he added.

China will also work hard to boost the capital market and address the hurdles facing social security, insurance and wealth management funds in entering the market, the meeting's statement said.

Chinese equities surged following the meeting. The Shanghai Composite Index rose for the seventh day on Thursday, climbing 3.6 percent to 3,000.95 points, closing above the 3000 milestone for the first time in about three months. The offshore yuan also strengthened past the 7-per-dollar benchmark on Thursday evening.

In a sign that the policies decided at the meeting are being implemented rapidly, the office of the Central Financial Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission released a guideline to usher mid- and long-term funds into the capital market on Thursday evening.