China Takes Steps to Ease Property Crisis

Chinese authorities have unveiled their most significant steps yet to address the crisis that has been dogging the country’s property sector in recent years.

The new measures include cutting the amount home buyers need for a deposit and encouraging local authorities to purchase unsold properties.

The announcements came on the same day as official figures showed the steepest drop in home prices in almost a decade, in a sign the crisis is deepening.

Problems in China’s property market are having a major impact on the world’s second largest economy as the industry had been a key driver of growth until recently.

The People’s Bank of China said it would set up a US $41 billion facility to support affordable housing.

A deputy governor at the central bank told a news briefing that the money would be used to support local state-owned enterprises to buy unsold homes.

Local government authorities have been instructed to buy properties at reasonable prices and sell them as affordable housing.