Experts say that the housing fund reform will favor second-hand homes.

According to media reports, recently, multiple regions have issued new policies on their housing provident fund systems. As of the end of 2024, China’s housing provident fund contribution balance was 10,925.279 billion yuan. Song Hongwei, vice chairman and chief researcher of the Tongce Research Institute, said that the role of the housing provident fund has become even more prominent in the current stage, playing an important part in lowering the cost for homebuyers. At present, there have been significant changes in the stage of housing development. Now that the country has entered the stock housing stage, some homebuying demand will shift to the secondary housing market, and renovation of older residential communities will become a focus. As part of the housing security system, the housing provident fund should, in the future, increase support for stock housing. Regarding provident fund reform, Song Hongwei believes it can be considered from the following aspects: first, increasing the loan limit is an important direction; second, front-loaded replacement-type demand is becoming increasingly apparent. For example, Shanghai’s “no reference to house-holding history” policy provides a good reference for other cities; in addition, provident fund support in the future should be expanded to the secondary housing sector to adapt to the trend of rising shares of secondary home transactions; furthermore, the provident fund loan interest rate should be further optimized to ensure its advantages in second-home purchases; and finally, future housing renewal and renovation will also require support from provident fund policies. (China News Network, Jingwei)