National Bureau of Statistics： Real estate investment is at a low level and will gradually return to a reasonable level.

　　On the morning of July 17th, the State Council Press Office held a press conference to introduce the national economy in the first half of 2023 and answer questions from reporters.

　　Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that since the beginning of this year, all regions and departments have adhered to the principle of "staying and not speculating", supported rigid and improved reasonable housing demand, and actively ensured the delivery of buildings, people’s livelihood and stability. In the first quarter, the backlog of housing demand was released in a centralized way, which led to the improvement of the real estate market. In the second quarter, the real estate market gradually returned to normal operation. In the first half of the year, the real estate market generally showed a stable trend. From the main indicators, the real estate market sales, development investment, real estate development enterprises in place funds and other major indicators have improved compared with last year. In the first half of the year, the sales area of commercial housing nationwide decreased by 5.3% year-on-year, and the sales increased by 1.1%, both of which were significantly better than last year. The decline in sales area was significantly narrowed, and sales turned from decline to increase. In the first half of the year, the investment in real estate development decreased by 7.9% year-on-year, and the funds paid by real estate development enterprises decreased by 9.8% this year, which was narrower than last year.

　　Judging from the trend, the real estate market will gradually stabilize with the economic recovery and the effective policies to promote the healthy development of real estate. From the demand side, under the policy of "no speculation in housing", speculative housing demand is gradually suppressed, and rigid and improved reasonable housing demand is released in an orderly manner, which will continue to drive real estate development. From the supply side, the business model of "high leverage, high debt and high turnover" of some real estate enterprises is unsustainable, and the supply of the real estate market is undergoing phased adjustment. With the gradual adjustment in place, the market supply will gradually stabilize. In the medium and long term, China’s real estate market is changing from the high-speed development in the past to the steady development, which is determined by the changes in the development stage of the real estate market and the adjustment of market supply and demand.

　　In the next stage, we should adhere to the orientation of "houses are used for living, not for speculation", accelerate the establishment of a housing system with multi-subject supply, multi-channel guarantee and simultaneous rent and purchase, implement a long-term mechanism for the stable and healthy development of the real estate market, continue to support rigid and improved housing demand, standardize the development of the housing rental market, promote the stable operation of the real estate market, and ensure people’s livelihood needs.

　　At present, the newly started area of real estate is still declining, the completed area is increasing, and the overall construction area is declining. In the future, real estate investment will be at a low level. However, with the gradual adjustment of the real estate market, real estate investment will gradually return to a reasonable level.