(Yicai) Dec. 13 -- Risk prevention and resolution will be the main focus of China’s real estate work next year, industry insiders said after Chinese leaders held the annual Central Economic Work Conference to decide priorities for the economic work in 2024.

The theme of next year’s real estate work will still be risk prevention, said Li Yujia, chief researcher at a residential policy research center in Guangdong province. The spread of risks has not been effectively controlled this year, so more efforts are needed to promote the sustainable development of buildings, combine developers’ internal and external assistance, and consolidate the importance of internal assistance and local governments’ responsibilities next year, Li added.

China should prudently resolve real estate risks, meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate companies under different ownership systems without discrimination, and promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market, according to the two-day Central Economic Work Conference ended yesterday.

The work of supporting reasonable housing consumption demand needs to be continued while local governments prioritize risk resolution, said Yan Yuejin, research director of the E-House China Research and Development Institute.

Actively and steadily resolving real estate risks is an important goal for next year, as corporate financial support policies are expected to be more effective, noted Chen Wenjing, director of market research at the China Index Academy.

First-tier cities will continue to optimize their purchase restriction policies next year, and second-tier ones are expected to cancel them entirely, while lower-tier cities may even issue housing purchase subsidies, Chen pointed out.

The Central Economic Work Conference also proposed to speed up the construction of affordable housing and transformation of urban villages, improve basic systems, and accelerate the establishment of a new real estate development model.

This fully illustrates the importance and urgency of establishing a new model system for real estate development, Yan noted, adding that he expects some new reform work to be launched next year.

China may introduce rules for the transformation of urban villages one after the other, as well as some projects to support the stabilization of real estate, both from the supply and demand perspectives, Chen pointed out.

Moreover, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to promote the coordinated development of urban-rural integration regions by organically combining new urbanization and rural area revitalization, thus forming a new development pattern.

Industry insiders believe that the above piece indicates that China should raise the country’s urbanization level once more.

Rural revitalization and new urbanization will become a sustainable development path for the real estate market in counties and towns, helping to reverse the downward trend of the real estate industry in those areas, Li said.

As a pillar of the national economy, real estate is related to many upstream and downstream industries, according to Chen. Whether real estate can stabilize next year is particularly important to stabilize the overall economy.

Editor: Futura Costaglione