China Mulls Government Purchases of Unsold Homes to Ease Glut
中国考虑政府购买未售出的房屋以缓解供应过剩

China is considering a proposal to have local governments across the country buy millions of unsold homes, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be one of its most ambitious attempts yet to salvage the beleaguered property market.
中国正在考虑一个提议，即全国各地方政府购买数百万套未售出的房屋，知情人士称，这将是中国迄今为止拯救备受困扰的房地产市场的最雄心勃勃的尝试之一。

The State Council is seeking feedback from several provinces and government entities on the preliminary plan, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. While China has already experimented with several pilot programs to clear excess housing inventory with the help of state funding, the latest plan would be much larger in scale.
据知情人士称，国务院正在征求几个省份和政府实体对初步计划的反馈，他们不愿透露自己的身份，因为这涉及私人事务。尽管中国已经尝试过几个试点项目，通过国家资金清理过剩的住房库存，但最新的计划规模将大得多。

Local state-owned enterprises would be asked to help purchase unsold homes from distressed developers at steep discounts using loans provided by state banks, according to two of the people. Many of the properties would then be converted into affordable housing.
据两名知情人士称，将要求地方国有企业帮助以国家银行提供的贷款以大幅折扣从陷入困境的开发商手中购买未售出的房屋，其中许多房产将被改建为经济适用房。

Officials are still debating details of the plan and its feasibility, the people said, adding that it could take months to be finalized if China’s leaders decide to go ahead. The housing ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.
官员们仍在就计划的细节和可行性进行讨论，据知情人士称，如果中国领导人决定继续下去，可能需要几个月时间才能最终确定。住房部未对置评请求作出回应。

If authorities do proceed, it would mark a new phase in the government’s closely watched campaign to address the biggest drag on the world’s second-largest economy. China’s home sales plummeted about 47% in the first fourth months and unsold housing inventory is hovering at an eight-year high, exacerbating a meltdown that threatens to put about 5 million people at risk of unemployment or reduced incomes.
如果当局继续推进，这将标志着政府密切关注的解决世界第二大经济体最大拖累的新阶段。中国的房屋销售在头四个月下降了约 47%，未售房屋库存处于八年来的高位，加剧了一场威胁让约 500 万人面临失业或收入减少的崩溃。

Investors have been awaiting details of the government’s next moves after the ruling Communist Party on April 30 vowed to explore new approaches to ease the real estate crisis. The Politburo, composed of China’s 24 most-senior leaders, said the country was studying ways to “digest” the existing stockpile of homes.
投资者一直在等待政府下一步行动的细节，此前执政的共产党于 4 月 30 日承诺探索缓解房地产危机的新途径。中共中央政治局由中国 24 位最高领导人组成，表示该国正在研究“消化”现有的房屋库存的方法。

A gauge of Chinese property stocks has rallied about 14% since then.
中国房地产股指自那时起已上涨约 14%。

While Beijing has experimented in the past with state buying of unsold apartments, most smaller-scale initiatives have met with little success.
尽管北京过去曾尝试过国家购买未售出公寓，但大多数小规模举措都收效甚微。

In early 2023, the People’s Bank of China made 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) available to some financial institutions through a specialized lending facility. The money was meant to help eight cities on a trial basis buy unsold properties for use in local subsidized rental programs.
2023 年初，中国人民银行通过专门的贷款机制向一些金融机构提供了 1000 亿元人民币（138 亿美元）。这笔资金旨在帮助八个城市试点购买未售出的房产，用于当地的租房补贴计划。

The Economic Observer newspaper reported in January this year that cities including Qingdao and Fuzhou had started using those funds to buy apartments. Still, only 2 billion yuan was extended under the program as of March, the central bank’s latest quarterly data showed, implying caution among banks and local authorities.
《经济观察报》今年 1 月报道称，青岛和福州等城市已开始动用这些资金购买公寓。然而，根据央行最新季度数据显示，截至 3 月，该计划仅发放 20 亿元人民币，显示出银行和地方政府的谨慎态度。

Since the Politburo meeting last month, several major cities including Hangzhou, the homebase to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., scrapped all their remaining curbs on residential purchases to lift transactions.
自上月政治局会议以来，包括阿里巴巴集团总部杭州在内的几个主要城市取消了所有剩余的住房购买限制，以促进交易。

Meanwhile, more than 50 Chinese cities rolled out “trade-in” programs that offer residents incentives for selling their old homes and upgrading to new properties as part of efforts to boost housing demand. Among them 11 local government or city-backed entities are conducting trials of buying housing inventory, according to a note from Tianfeng Securities Co. this week.
与此同时，超过 50 个中国城市推出了“以旧换新”计划，为居民提供激励措施，鼓励他们出售旧房屋，升级到新房产，以促进住房需求。其中有 11 个地方政府或城市支持的实体正在试行购买住房存量，根据天风证券本周的一份报告。

Not Enough 不够

Even so, China’s property sector is unlikely to stabilize until the gap between housing supply and demand closes, according to Bloomberg Economics.
然而，根据彭博经济学观点，中国的房地产行业在住房供需缺口关闭之前不太可能稳定下来。

Unsold housing inventory climbed to 3.6 billion square feet last year, the highest since 2016, official data showed. It will cost at least 7 trillion yuan ($967 billion), or 78% of China’s budget deficit this year, for the government to absorb the inventory in 18 months, Tianfeng Securities estimated.
去年，未售出的住房库存攀升至 36 亿平方英尺，为 2016 年以来最高水平，官方数据显示。根据天风证券的估计，政府需要耗资至少 7 万亿元人民币（9670 亿美元），或者相当于中国今年 78%的预算赤字，来在 18 个月内吸收这些库存。

The new plan to enlist local governments to reduce housing glut could further exacerbate their debt level, which has soared to 56% of gross domestic product as of last year. Banks would also be under pressure as their balance sheets have already been eroded by rising bad loans and narrowing margins.
新计划旨在让地方政府帮助减少住房过剩问题，但可能进一步加剧它们的债务水平，该水平已在去年飙升至国内生产总值的 56%。银行也将面临压力，因为它们的资产负债表已经受到不良贷款增加和利润空间收窄的侵蚀。