Interview: China's property sector heading for high-quality development: minister

BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- China will firmly implement policy pledges of the property market to meet the housing demands of the people and promote high-quality development of the sector, said Ni Hong, minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Since the beginning of the year, a flurry of supportive measures to shore up China's property sector has been rolled out, including reducing down payment ratios for first-time homebuyers, lowering mortgage rates and easing purchase restrictions for people wanting to buy a second house.

"These policy measures have yielded positive impacts on the sector," Ni told Xinhua in an interview.

In the first 10 months, combined transaction volume of new and second-hand homes saw an upward trend compared with a year ago, he said.

Ni added that China's property sector is in the process of transformation as major changes have taken place in the relationship between supply and demand in the real estate market.

In response to the new situation, China's property sector should "adhere to the principle that housing is for living in, not for speculation, and meet the essential housing demands of residents and their need for better living conditions," the minister said.

A better living condition, he explained, should be characterized by green, low-carbon, intelligent and safe, enabling people to lead healthy and convenient lives at a low cost.

In addition, significant measures will be adopted to support the construction of affordable housing, the renovation of villages in cities and public facility construction, as well as meeting reasonable financing demands of developers, Ni added.

"It is particularly important to solve the housing problems of new city dwellers and young people to empower them to strive for a better life," the minister said.

Noting that China's property sector has solid support for sustainable development despite challenges in the current transformation period, Ni expressed confidence in high-quality development of the sector as the policy package will gradually pay off.