Is 50,000 yuan enough? Nantong and Fengyang encourage farmers to "give up their homesteads and buy houses in the city"
Recently, Nantong, Jiangsu, Fengyang, Anhui and other places have issued notices to encourage farmers to withdraw from their homesteads and buy houses in the city. Those who purchase newly built commercial housing in designated areas will be given certain housing purchase incentives.
As soon as the news came out, it quickly attracted people's attention on social platforms. However, the reporter learned in the interview that some local policies have been implemented for some time, but so far, there has not been a successful case.
On June 20, the official Weibo account of "China Fengyang" released a notice on "Several Measures to Further Promote the Stable and Healthy Development of the Real Estate Market", pointing out that "rewards for withdrawing from homesteads will be given". From June 20, 2024 to December 31, 2024, for projects included in the 2024 land increase and decrease scope and the county house acquisition leading group office determined to be included in the acquisition scope, involving rural residents of the county who need to resettle homesteads, if they voluntarily give up homestead resettlement and buy houses in the city, after the original homesteads are returned to the village collective for reclamation and demolition of buildings, a one-time housing purchase reward of 50,000 yuan will be given.
A day later, on June 21, the official WeChat account of Nantong also released a new real estate policy, which mentioned that "between April 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025, those who purchase newly built commercial housing in the main urban area will be given a reward and subsidy of 1.5% of the total purchase price. Those who voluntarily withdraw from rural homesteads and buy houses in the city will be given a certain amount of reward and subsidy, and the specific standards will be formulated by all localities in the city."
The reporter learned that the reward and subsidy standards in various parts of Nantong are not the same. Taking Hai'an as an example, for eligible rural residents who "abandoned their homes and moved to the city", the district and town where they are located will evaluate the compensation in accordance with the "increase and decrease linked" policy. After signing the compensation agreement, an equal amount of housing tickets will be issued; the "abandoned homes and moved to the city" households can use the housing tickets to offset the purchase price; at the same time, they can go to the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau to receive housing vouchers worth 50,000 yuan per household with the subscription agreement.
Rudong's policy is to provide 450 yuan/square meter compensation to existing original homestead rights holders who are members of village collective economic organizations, based on the legal homestead use area, if they voluntarily apply to withdraw from the homestead. In addition, for farmers who voluntarily withdraw from rural homesteads and purchase new commercial residential houses within the planning area of Rudong County within the specified time, a housing subsidy of 400 yuan/square meter will be provided based on the selected housing type, with a construction area of no more than 144 square meters per household.
What do you think of the "50,000 yuan" housing purchase reward? Wang Yuting, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, pointed out, "I personally think it is not attractive enough to farmers. Because the value of farmers' homestead use rights is not only the homestead and the house on the ground, but also includes the right of future generations to apply for homesteads, as well as the value of a bottom-line guarantee."
Yan Yuejin, research director of E-House Research Institute, believes that "encouraging farmers to buy houses in cities is a good thing in itself, and giving subsidies is also a good thing, but it must be comprehensively coordinated and potential security work must be done well, otherwise farmers will face many problems, such as the pressure to buy houses and how to live in cities. In short, supporting guarantees and services should keep up, such as social security and employment, which should be emphasized in the policy. If only a 50,000 yuan housing purchase reward is mentioned, it would be a bit one-sided."
The exploration and improvement of the rural homestead withdrawal mechanism is an important task of the homestead reform. In September 2020, 104 counties and three prefecture-level cities across the country launched a new round of rural homestead system reform pilot projects. Exploring the voluntary paid withdrawal mechanism for homesteads is one of the important contents of the pilot projects. In recent years, many places have carried out a lot of exploration and innovation.
Take Shanghai Fengxian as an example. In 2020, Fengxian District was listed as a national pilot area for the reform of the rural homestead system. In the past two years, the homesteads of 41 households along Nanzhuang Road in Liudun Village, Fengxian, have been rebuilt and transferred by the village collective to develop headquarters economy, becoming a "hot spot" to attract foreign companies to settle in.
The spatial replacement reform in Longyou County, Quzhou, Zhejiang Province is also a sample. Longyou County is committed to promoting the spatial replacement of homesteads, realizing the two-way flow of urban and rural elements, optimizing the allocation of urban and rural public resources, and regional coordinated development. The county has also innovated a variety of replacement methods such as homesteads for homesteads, homesteads for resettlement housing, and homesteads for housing tickets to encourage farmers to move to the city and launched a "housing and entrepreneurship" financial loan.
"The state has two preconditions for the withdrawal of homesteads, one is voluntary and the other is paid. If these two principles are well grasped, there will be no major problems." Wang Yuting believes that the voluntary and paid withdrawal policy for homesteads meets the needs of some farmers, especially those who have settled in cities and whose homesteads and farmhouses are idle. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with linking the withdrawal of homesteads with housing purchase deductions. In essence, it is to replace commercial housing assets with homestead rights and interests, giving farmers more options. "But how do the government and collectives use the homesteads that farmers withdraw from? If the government directly takes away the land quota, will the collectives and farmers participate in the distribution of the income generated? What is the distribution ratio? How does the government use these income? These are all issues that need attention."
