BEIJING, May 17, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Chinese leaders are meeting Friday with top
housing officials to discuss a possible plan for the government to buy
millions of unsold homes in a bid to support the struggling property sector,
Bloomberg reported.

The State Council -- the Chinese government's top body -- is seeking input
from key industry players as they seek to finalise a strategy, with several
developers embroiled in an unprecedented debt crisis.

Among those plans could be a scheme by Beijing to have local governments
purchase millions of unsold homes across the country, Bloomberg said.

Friday's meeting is being attended by regulators, representatives of top
banks, local governments and the property market, Bloomberg News said.

Beijing has not confirmed the meeting will take place, but the State Council
has said it will convene a briefing at 4 pm local time (0800 GMT), attended
by officials from the housing ministry as well as those from China's top
regulator and its central bank.

Shares in Chinese developers have rallied in Hong Kong in recent days on
hopes of fresh support for the sector.

On Friday, Agile Group soared 8.1 percent, CIFI Holdings gained 4.1 percent,
Fantasia added 5.9 percent and Sino-Ocean Group was up 5.3 percent.

Longfor Group piled on more than four percent, while China Vanke was up
almost two percent, having jumped 15 percent and 16 percent respectively on
Thursday, according to Bloomberg News.

Liu Aihua, spokesperson and chief economist of the National Bureau of
Statistics, told a news conference on Friday that the country's property
sector "continues to be in a period of adjustment".

The meeting comes as official figures Friday showed that property prices and
sales in the country continued to slip in April.

Property and construction accounts for more than a quarter of China's gross
domestic product, but the sector has been under unprecedented strain since
2020, when authorities tightened developers' access to credit in a bid to
reduce mounting debt.

Since then, major companies including China Evergrande and Country Garden
have teetered, while falling prices have dissuaded consumers from investing
in property.

Measures introduced by the central government to support the sector have so
far had little effect.

In a bid to boost purchases, a growing list of urban areas have rolled back
curbs on buying homes.