(Reuters) -China is preparing to mobilise central government-owned companies in Beijing to buy unsold homes from troubled property developers, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
Regulators are planning to ask major state-owned enterprises and bad debt managers, including China Cinda Asset Management, to help reduce the oversupply of housing, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The firms will be allowed to draw from a 300 billion yuan ($41.83 billion) fund that the central bank had originally designated for an older initiative, according to the report.
Last year, the central bank set up a relending loan facility for affordable housing to encourage local state-owned enterprises, or SOEs, to buy up unsold completed homes. The relending facility was aimed at helping them make these purchases at “reasonable prices.”
China’s property sector’s troubles trace back to 2021 when a regulatory crackdown on developer debt triggered a liquidity crisis, leaving projects unfinished and buyers wary.
The State Council Information Office, which handles media queries on behalf of the central government, and China Cinda Asset Management did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
($1 = 7.1724 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Aidan Lewis)
