China's push to clear inventory of unsold homes unlikely to help developers

They expect few projects to be selected, citing an inadequate lending facility

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China’s efforts to clear massive inventory by turning unsold homes into affordable housing are unlikely to help cash-strapped developers due to the programme’s limited size and potentially low prices, analysts and developers say.

The country has the equivalent of 60 million unsold apartments, which will take more than four years to sell without government aid, according to Bloomberg Economics.

As part of a support package for the crisis-hit property sector, Beijing announced in May a plan for a 300 billion yuan (S$57.12 billion) lending facility, which could result in 500 billion yuan worth of bank financing for local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to purchase completed and unsold homes.

Chinese banks are expected to extend cheaper loans to SOEs via the facility, backed by the central bank, to help them buy the homes from developers at “reasonable prices” to turn into affordable housing.

Some private developers, however, see very few, if any, of their projects being selected as the lending facility is inadequate and the scheme is expected to launch only in bigger cities where affordable housing is available.

Price offers from SOEs are also likely to be low, they say.

The cautious attitude of developers could be a challenge for Beijing, as waves of support measures over the past two years has failed to revive the sector, which at its peak accounted for a quarter of gross domestic product and remains a major drag on the economy.