Page 14 - HUDCO-SHELTER-April22

THEME PAPER
The China Housing
Development Report (2020-
2021) shows that in the
4
absence of major policy shifts,
new external shocks, and a
significant improvement in
the epidemic situation, the
overall property market in
China will remain stable,
but its structural potential
remains. It is expected that
China’s property market will
continue to recover steadily
in 2021. The year-on-year
growth rate of commercial
housing sales may maintain
positive growth and hit a
record high again.
The Report also provides
broad counter-measures
and suggestions for planned
urbanization and housing
security in China. It advocates
among other measures,
to establish systematic
and quantitative policy
benchmarks to strengthen
precise and effective development, but lack the
regulation; quantify the
effective boundary of various
specific policy objectives and
strengths such as housing
demand policy, housing
supply policy, housing land
policy, housing finance
policy, housing tax policy,
etc.; and combine various
policy objectives and effective
boundaries to make various
policies.
4 China Housing Development Report (2020-2021) released (http://www.cssn.cn/ often referred to as engines
zx/bwyc/202012/t20201222_5235452.shtml)
12 HUDCO-HSMI Publication
Critical Assessment
Despite the motivations and
intentions of the governments
of both India and China, the
housing conditions remain
far from ideal. Several
phenomena contribute to this.
For example, the problem of
vacant housing in China is
roughly 22% or 50 million
(Li, 2019). Similarly in India,
the vacant housing stock has
been estimated to be over 11
million.
Another challenge, especially
in the case of China relates
to housing speculation.
The practice of purchasing
for investment rather than
dwelling is prevalent. The
ghost city phenomenon is
driven by debt, which in
turn was triggered by the
recovery process from the
global financial crisis. Thus,
these cities are marked by
extensive infrastructural other municipal services and
people to inhabit it. However,
not all ghost cities remain so.
For instance, Pudong area in
Shanghai, a former swamp
across the river, is now an
urbanized and modern area.
It remains an exception and
not a generalization.
The recent debacle of the
Chinese real estate giant
Evergrande demonstrates the
impact upon private investors
and prospective homeowners
because of mismanagement
and default by the company
that has a huge political clout
in the country. Similarly,
in India, real estate sector
requires effective governance
for the smooth functioning
of the sector amidst private
sector mismanagement, RERA
is a step in that direction.
The densification of
households in urban India
has led to drastic changes
in the needs of urban
settlements. Issues such as
economic competitiveness
of cities, provision of easy
access to affordable housing
to check massive housing
shortages, empowerment of
Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
and Para-Statal agencies,
provision of adequate quality
infrastructure, amenities and
their pricing and affordability,
slums redevelopment,
formalization/regularization
of informal/unauthorized
colonies, congestion and
crowding, and steep rise in
vacant houses have cropped
up in the recent past.
The throes of the COVID-19
pandemic hit the housing
market, real estate sector,
and most importantly the
construction sector. The cities,
of economic growth, have