China’s property sector, historically contributing about a quarter of the nation’s GDP, has suffered from a prolonged housing slump, challenging the government’s 2024 growth target of around 5%. To stabilise the sector, China pledged in October to expand credit for unfinished housing projects to over $500 billion. The latest announcement follows several recent economic stimulus efforts, including interest rate cuts and relaxation of home-buying restrictions.

CCTV reported that the Ministry of Finance, the state tax authority, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development are introducing these tax incentives to clarify support measures for the real estate market. Among them, the deed tax incentives for housing transactions will be enhanced, and the minimum prepayment rate of the land value-added tax will be lowered to help ease financial strains on real estate companies.(ET)