Cities across China have been incentivizing home buyers to purchase low-energy housing as part of sweeping efforts to stabilize the country's real estate market and reduce emissions.
Over 70 cities in the country have introduced optimizations to policies related to the housing provident fund (HPF), a pension that workers pay into and can later withdraw from for housing costs. Many announced they would increase limits on loans from the local HPF management center, with loans for green housing emerging as a key focus.
On April 1, Ordos City in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region raised its loan limit for green housing by 10 percent. Shortly after, the Beijing Housing Fund Management Center sought public feedback on a proposal for purchasing green buildings. This proposal would increase the loan limit by 400,000 yuan (about 56,300 dollars), allowing loans up to 1.6 million yuan (about 225,100 dollars) for buyers of low-energy homes.
Guangzhou City in south China introduced a similar policy on the same day, rolling out a tier system for loans based on the country's certification system for green buildings, which uses a four-tier system in which green structures are categorized as either basic grade, 1-star grade, 2-star grade and 3-star grade.
"Buyers of green or prefabricated housing with a one-star level can enjoy a 10-percent increased loan limit, while those with two stars can benefit from up to a 20-percent increase. Additionally, families with two or more children can enjoy a 30-percent increased borrowing limit," said Feng Wei, director of Guangzhou Housing Fund Management Center.
Recent data indicates that green buildings constitute 90 percent of new construction in China. By 2025, all new buildings in urban and rural areas are expected to meet green building standards.
"The building industry is one of the largest emitters. Integrating financial policies with the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality by combining housing and green finance is an innovative measure to mobilize the housing provident fund," said Cai Zhen, a researcher at the Institute of Finance and Banking of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Housing meets green finance as Chinese cities revise lending rules
China is the "best possible partner" for Serbia to achieve its national goals, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in an interview prior to Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to the country.
In the exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Belgrade on Tuesday, Vucic praised Xi as a humble man who keeps his word.
"We are doing a lot of preparations. We have many dreams. When you run the country you have big aims, high dreams. You need to put your new targets always. And if we can reach these new aims, new targets, new goals, the best possible partner for that has always been, and it will always be, People's Republic of China. And it's President Xi, because President Xi, he keeps his words. I see him as just a regular, humble, modest man, but which is not promising a lot, but when he promises something, then he fulfills that. I cannot tell you whether we had bigger preparations in our railroad sector or overall infrastructural sector or industrial sector, economy sector or tourism sector, whichever sector, or cultural sector, because there are thousands of things that we can and we should learn from our Chinese friends," he said.
Vucic said Serbia's preparations for Xi's visit would help ensure its success and deliver benefits to both nations.
"Let me say it's a big visit and now we are going to be, after today, we are going to be fully devoted to that visit, and I believe that we'll be able to deliver the very best results for the benefit and for the sake of Chinese people and Serbian people as well," he said.
The president also hailed the positive effects on bilateral trade between the two countries since a free trade agreement was signed in Oct 2023, making Serbia China's 29th global free trade partner.
"And there is one very important thing. The free trade agreement that we signed in Beijing. That's a big deal for us, because now we have reached 6.1 billion (U.S. dollars of) overall trade exchange between our two countries. And I believe that we're going to double or triple within 10 years, or even more than that, with this free trade agreement, this is very possible and I believe this will open new doors, new gates for better cooperation even in the future," he said.
Bilateral trade between China and Serbia soared from 596 million U.S. dollars in 2016 to 4.35 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. In 2022, China became the largest source of direct investment for Serbia.
China best partner for Serbia to achieve national goals: Serbian president
