Be more clear!, Encourage the withdrawal of provident fund as a down payment of 9.53%. Housing | Provident Fund | Down Payment

In 2022, the amount of housing provident fund contributions reached 319.3505 billion yuan, an increase of 277.818 billion yuan, an increase of 9.53% compared to the previous year. The above-mentioned data was disclosed in the "National Housing Provident Fund 2022 Annual Report" jointly released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance, and the People's Bank of China.

The further expansion of the benefits of the housing provident fund system has also made it an important means of regulating the real estate market. From encouraging the withdrawal of housing provident fund as a down payment, to increasing the amount of housing provident fund loans, and increasing the amount of housing provident fund withdrawal for renting... Currently, the housing provident fund systems in many places are quietly changing.

Encourage the extraction of provident fund as a trend for down payment

Recently, the Housing Provident Fund Management Center of Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, issued the "Meizhou Housing Provident Fund Support for High Quality Development of the Real Economy Work Plan", which introduced a total of 23 measures in five aspects, clearly proposing to encourage residents to purchase self occupied housing and withdraw housing provident fund as a down payment.

On August 10th, the Housing Provident Fund Management Center of Fuyang City, Anhui Province, issued a notice on supporting the withdrawal of housing provident fund to pay the down payment for purchasing a house, clarifying that those who apply for housing provident fund loans for the first time to purchase newly-built commercial housing for self occupation can apply to withdraw the balance of the provident fund account to pay the down payment for purchasing a house.

On August 4th, the Housing Provident Fund Management Bureau of Hainan Province and the Housing and Urban Rural Development Department of Hainan Province issued a notice, allowing Hainan to withdraw housing provident fund to pay the down payment for purchasing newly built commercial housing and affordable housing in the province.

Guided by the goal of improving the purchasing ability of housing provident fund depositors, encouraging the withdrawal of provident fund for down payment has been included in documents in multiple regions.

"The principle of using provident fund is to consume first and then withdraw it. Without this policy, it is necessary to transfer ownership before withdrawing the provident fund. However, the down payment is basically paid when transferring ownership, so if you want to use the provident fund on the down payment, you need an additional step of 'crossing the bridge'. Mr. Jiang, who has been working in the real estate industry for many years, explained to reporters that after the new policy is introduced, using provident fund to pay the down payment does not need to be 'paid before withdrawing', which is equivalent to the difference between 'taking money before buying a house' and 'buying a house before withdrawing money'.".

"Currently, the withdrawal of housing provident fund for down payment has indeed become a trend." Yan Yuejin, the research director of E-House Research Institute, believes that this policy further illustrates the linkage between "housing provident fund withdrawal and down payment capacity enhancement", which greatly helps to promote the rational utilization of housing provident fund resources and thereby enhance residents' ability to purchase houses.

In fact, during this round of real estate market adjustment cycle, allowing the withdrawal of housing provident fund for down payment has been practiced and expanded in multiple places. According to monitoring data from Zhongzhi, since 2022, many cities such as Fuzhou, Zhongshan, and Nanjing have successively introduced relevant policies to revitalize and promote housing transactions through housing provident fund, which has gradually become a consensus.

Chen Wenjing, Director of Market Research at Zhongzhi Research Institute, believes that for eligible homebuyers, allowing them to withdraw their provident fund to pay the down payment for the purchase of a house is beneficial for reducing the pressure on initial capital turnover and helping to release housing demand; On the other hand, for homebuyers who are willing to reduce loan expenses, withdrawing provident fund also provides additional funds, increasing the down payment ratio that can be paid.

Deeper integration of housing provident fund and rental housing

On August 14, according to the news of "Summer Capital Xining" on WeChat official account, in order to further support families with more children to solve the housing problem and reduce the economic burden of families with more children in renting houses, Xining Housing Provident Fund Management Center implemented the new regulations, which will increase the limit on the amount of housing withdrawal for families with more children.

On August 11, the "Chengdu Release" WeChat official account issued a document, and the Chengdu Housing Provident Fund Management Center publicly solicited opinions, including that the depositors of housing provident fund who meet the conditions for housing rent withdrawal can authorize the Chengdu Housing Provident Fund Center to directly transfer the withdrawal amount to the operating enterprise every month for rent payment.

In terms of renting, the adjustment of the amount and frequency of provident fund withdrawals has also penetrated into first tier cities. On August 3rd, the Shenzhen Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau publicly solicited opinions from the public and proposed a phased increase in the standard for employee housing provident fund rental housing withdrawal. One of them is to raise the housing provident fund rental withdrawal limit to 80%.

Li Yujia, Chief Researcher of the Housing Policy Research Center of Guangdong Provincial Planning Institute, believes that these changes in housing provident fund are aimed at making it an inclusive finance in the housing sector, supporting the reduction of rental or purchase costs for residents, which is its core essence.

The original intention of establishing the housing provident fund system was to solve the housing problem of urban residents. Zhao Xiuchi, Dean of the Beijing Tianjin Hebei Real Estate Research Institute at Capital University of Economics and Trade and Vice President and Secretary General of the Beijing Real Estate Law Society, believes that increasing the withdrawal rate of housing provident fund rental housing can help reduce the burden of depositors renting or buying houses, improve their ability to rent or buy houses, and improve their living standards.

"This also strongly supports the development of the rental market, which is conducive to the change of residents' concept of buying more and renting less." Zhao Xiuchi believes.

Adjustments will continue to deepen

From the perspective of multiple rounds of policy optimization in the field of housing provident fund, it is gradually reflecting the breadth and depth of policy refinement, while further playing a role in supporting the demand for rigid and improved housing.

According to China Index monitoring, over 100 provinces and cities across the country issued over 300 policies in the first half of the year, and optimizing housing provident fund policies remains one of the important means. The specific implementation includes increasing the loan amount of housing provident fund, reducing the down payment ratio of housing provident fund, "one person buying a house and helping the whole family", supporting "commercial to public" loans, increasing the amount of housing provident fund withdrawal for renting, and increasing the support of housing provident fund for homebuyers, while also improving the efficiency of using public provident fund.

On the tone of "implementing policies based on the city", some cities have also chosen to use greater intensity and innovative methods. For example, Qingdao has expanded the "mortgage transfer" business of existing housing to housing provident fund combination loans, and has lifted the restrictions on loan types for buyers and sellers; The new housing provident fund phased policy in Guiyang will cancel the restriction on registered residence of non local loans.

Analysis shows that these cities have made outstanding attempts to adjust their housing provident fund policies with precision, continuity, and effectiveness. They have not only played a supporting role in people's livelihoods through housing provident fund, but also inherited the trend of loose policies in the real estate market since the beginning of this year. In the short term, various regions may continue to implement policies tailored to their own housing provident fund usage.