Applicants for Shanghai Housing Fund IncreaseAs more and more members of the Public Accumulation Fund for Housing Construction (PAFHC) of Shanghai are applying for PAFHC loans, the city's PAFHC has to rely on the municipal government for financial help.Shanghai set up its PAFHC in May 1991, the first of its kind in China. Last year, PAFHC members applied for over 7.3 billion yuan (about US$ 880 million) of loans, but only 5 billion yuan (about US$602 million) is available. It was the municipal government that help PAFHC to solve the problem. This year, the city's PAFHC expects to collect 8 billion yuan (about US$964 million), but only 1.5 billion yuan will be available for loans. Once again, the municipal government is taking effective financial measures to assist the PAFHC. Sources with administration center of the PAFHC said individual house buyers of this east China metropolis have got 20 billion yuan (about US$241 million) of loans from the city's PAFHC over the past eight years. A total of 260,000 households in the city have benefited from the PAFHC, which enable them to buy apartment units with floor space totaling 21 million square meters. |
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