China unveils financial measures to bolster housing market

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's financial authorities on Wednesday rolled out 16 steps in the country's latest move to facilitate the stable and healthy development of the real-estate market.

Efforts will be made to stabilize the supply of loans for real-estate development, and support the reasonable demand for individual housing loans, according to a guideline released by the People's Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Support will be given to two policy banks on issuing specific loans to qualified borrowers to ensure the delivery of housing projects, the guideline noted.

Commercial banks are encouraged to carry out loans for the acquisition of real-estate projects in a prudent and orderly manner, while house buyers might enjoy repayment extensions on their housing loans under certain circumstances.

The guideline reiterated that "housing is for living in, not for speculation," and called for city-specific measures.