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Cailianshe News, August 23 (Reporter Wang Haichun)The State Council Information Office held a press conference on the theme of "Promoting High-quality Development" today. Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong attended the press conference to introduce the situation and answer questions from reporters.

Ni Hong introduced at the press conference that as of the end of 2023, the per capita housing construction area in my country's urban areas will exceed 40 square meters; a total of more than 64 million units of various types of affordable housing and resettlement housing have been built, more than 150 million people have realized their dream of a safe home, and low-income families with housing difficulties have basically achieved full coverage.

"In 1994, the average living area per capita in my country's cities was only 18.7 square meters. Now it has exceeded 40 square meters. Judging from this data change, the living conditions of urban residents in my country have been greatly improved," said Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Housing Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Urban and Rural Planning.

Yan Yuejin, deputy director of the E-House Research Institute, pointed out that according to previous disclosures by the construction department, the per capita housing construction area of ​​urban residents was 39.8 square meters in 2019, and by 2023 this indicator will increase to over 40 square meters; although there have been no particularly large changes in the short term, the latest data actually conveys some important information.

"First, we have achieved quite good results in solving the housing problem. Secondly, the era of housing shortage has passed, and a new housing era has arrived," said Yan Yuejin.

"The per capita housing area in developed countries is around 50 square meters, while in Japan it is around 40 square meters. Based on this, the per capita housing area in our country's urban areas now exceeds 40 square meters, which has basically reached the level of Japan. That is to say, the supply of housing in our country has generally met the basic housing needs of residents. If we look at it from the perspective of urbanization, we have bid farewell to the period of rapid urbanization," said Li Yujia in an interview with reporters.

It further stated that according to a survey conducted by the People's Bank of China in 2019, the home ownership rate of urban households in my country was 96%, of which 58.4% of households had one home, 31% had two homes, and 10.5% had three or more homes. The average household owned 1.5 homes. Overall, my country's housing market has achieved balance in terms of total volume, but it should be noted that there are still structural deficiencies in housing, which means that there is still considerable room for improvement in the real estate market in the future.

"First, some people may own multiple homes, and there is a gap in the Gini coefficient of the number of homes owned by different groups. Secondly, the efficiency of housing supply needs to be improved. Some houses provide low living experience and quality, including some old houses, which have problems such as incomplete functions, backwardness, and incomplete supporting facilities. They need to make up for the functional shortcomings by promoting renovation and other means. Third, in terms of cities with net population inflow, especially first- and second-tier megacities, the housing shortage problem for new young citizens is still relatively prominent. In addition, many housing purchase needs are basically met, but there are differences between the groups in terms of income and other aspects. Taking into account factors such as insufficient payment ability, many people have periodic rental needs, but the effective supply in this regard is still insufficient." Li Yujia added.

Zhang Bo, director of the 58 Anjuke Research Institute, also believes that the per capita housing area exceeds 40 square meters. This is overall data. Behind this data, specific analysis is still needed from multiple dimensions such as regions and cities.

"The biggest problem in the current market is still structural imbalance. There is a large potential demand in areas with a large influx of population, but the housing in many small and medium-sized cities is obviously saturated, and they are also facing problems such as insufficient demand caused by population loss. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is promoting a new mechanism for the linkage of "people, housing, land, and money", which is also intended to solve the structural imbalance. Therefore, we should not only look at the overall data, but also judge the long-term supply of housing based on population flow and city-specific policies." Zhang Bo said in an interview with reporters.

According to a research report by CRIC and the Seventh National Census Yearbook, as of 2020, the proportion of self-owned housing in the country has exceeded 70%, of which nearly 50% areShared ownership, old public housing, self-built houses and other non-commercial housing, commercial housing accounts for less than 30%, and about 18.8% of households need to rent houses to meet their housing needs.

"Although households purchasing commercial housing account for the highest proportion in cities, households renting houses still account for a certain proportion, especially in first-tier cities with high housing prices and a large number of migrant population, the proportion of households renting houses may reach more than 40%. In addition, the scale of potential improvement demand far exceeds the total amount of rigid demand, and may gradually become the main force of market demand in the future." said CRIC analysts.

In Yan Yuejin's view, on the one hand, the quality of housing needs to be improved to meet the improvement needs of residents; on the other hand, my country is moving from the incremental housing market to the existing housing market, and thus, there will be considerable market opportunities in the existing housing market. "For example, new opportunities will emerge in areas such as urban renewal and housing renovation, and all parties need to conduct in-depth exploration in these areas."

"At present, the supply and demand relationship in the real estate market has undergone major changes, and the market is still in a period of adjustment. With the implementation of various policies, positive changes have occurred in the market. Judging from the development process of urbanization in my country and the people's new expectations for good houses, the real estate market still has great potential and space. As long as we have firm confidence, adopt policies based on local conditions and implement them vigorously, we can promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market." Minister Ni Hong said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office.

(Cailian News reporter Wang Haichun)