The government's role in the housing sector is to offer low-rent and affordable houses to low-income families, but this does not necessarily mean that it has to set up state-owned real estate companies to fulfill the task. It can certainly purchase apartments from private housing companies and then sell them to low-income families at a reasonable price.

Therefore, the Zhengzhou Municipal Government's practice should not be misunderstood as a mere "market-boosting" move, but more as buying public services.

Deng Yuwen (Chengdu Business Daily): For years, China's public housing construction has operated under a system where government allocates land and cuts or exempts relevant taxes on developers undertaking the projects. Despite these favorable policies, developers are not interested in these projects because the government imposes a ceiling price on public housing.

Therefore, although the government has repeatedly stressed the importance of increasing public housing supplies, there has been little improvement in the past.

Given the current recessive real estate market, the government is likely to get bargain prices from developers and thus ordinary people can get high quality and relatively cheap houses.

Zhengzhou's plan is a good initiative. It is using financial leverage to serve the low-income group. The government is expected to better satisfy the public's demand for such a service.

Wang Pan (China Business Times): The government intends to purchase unsold houses and then offer them as affordable homes to low-income families. Objectively, the program will boost housing demand and benefit property developers who are worried about the lackluster sales in previous months. To increase the trade volume is the target of the Central Government's current housing market regulation. Why should the local government that buys unsold houses be blamed?

Since 1993, China has gradually improved its social security networks, despite a lagging public housing system. Today, the property market is a bleak picture. If the government's plan to transform unsold apartments into public housing can be effectively implemented, it would be significant.

Xu Wen (Orient Today): Some people argue that the government is actually helping to pay the bill for property developers by taking over unsold apartments, but I think this criticism is unfair.

Through mass purchases of unsold houses, the government will be able to greatly expand public housing supplies in a short period of time, thus helping more low-income families improve their housing conditions at faster-than-expected pace. At the same time, the availability of a large number of relatively cheap houses will curb housing prices from skyrocketing. Therefore, Zhengzhou's actions are helping ordinary people.

Think again

Feng Haining (Yanzhao Metropolis Daily): The government should not be buying unsold houses in a hurry.

First of all, the public may feel dissatisfied. Every penny spent on the purchasing plan is from taxpayers. They are justifiably concerned with how the government spends their money and for whom it does so. Against the backdrop of a recessive market, obviously, the government is using taxpayers' money to bailout property developers rather than improve housing conditions of low-income families.

More importantly, the purchase of so many unsold houses will use a lot of public finance and squeeze out other projects. Particularly, the expected economic slowdown will reduce tax revenues, making it tough for the government.

Zhengzhou's plan is hard to operate. First, the transaction price is a problem. If the discounts are big, real estate developers will not agree; but if they are small, the public won't agree.

Besides, whose houses is the government going to buy? The selection process will involve many government agencies and developers, and many factors such as price, location and layout of houses need to be considered. If not properly handled, corruption is bound to arise.

Su Wenyang (Beijing Evening News): The question is at what price will the government buy unsold houses?

The houses are unsold because developers are reluctant to cut prices and thus potential homebuyers cannot afford them. If developers agree to sell houses at discounted prices, then the government is suspected of infringing upon ordinary people's interests.

I believe property developers will not sell houses cheaply. In many local government-sponsored auctions, few developers bid for the land allocated for price-controlled public housing projects, because they think that these houses will not bring excessive profits.