Chinese Central Bank Says Property Will not Be Used for Short-term Economic Stimulus During Coronavirus Outbreak

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The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) says that policymakers will refrain from using the property market as a channel for short-term stimulus measures during efforts to contain the economic impacts of the novel coronavirus.

PBOC released its “Q4 China Monetary Policy Execution Report” on 19 February via its official website.

The Report reiterated that “houses are to be used for occupation and not speculation,” and that there would not be used of real estate as a medium for short-term economic stimulus.

PBOC also flagged the accelerated establishment of long-term regulatory mechanisms for real estate financing, in accordance with the basic principle of policy implementation on a city-by-city basis.

Data from Centaline Property indicates that since the start of February over 40 municipal governments around China have issued real-estate related policies, primarily in relation to public funds, land sales and accelerated pre-sales.

“These measures are not to encourage speculation in housing, but to stabilise the property market,” said Zhang Dawei (张大伟), chief analyst with Centaline.

“Amidst the shock of the [coronavirus], there is no possibility of encouraging housing speculation, but property is a key sector, and stabilisation is extremely important.”

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