China will cut mortgage rates and allow local authorities to turn unsold homes from developers into affordable housing, in a series of drastic measures by Beijing aimed at propping up the country’s faltering property market.
In a speech, the Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng said that local governments, developers and financial institutions must take responsibility for the property sector since it “related to the interest of the masses and the big issue of economic development”. Some analysts were sceptical that lowering rates could stimulate demand for property. “The impact of lowering mortgage rates would be limited because there’s still a lack of demand and that’s why we need government to be the buyer as a last resort,” said Larry Hu, the chief China economist at Macquarie.