Beijing and Shanghai Cut Down Payment Ratios to Revitalize the Real Estate Market
Beijing and Shanghai Cut Down Payment Ratios to Revitalize the Real Estate Market
On December14, Beijing and Shanghai announced a series of policy adjustments, including lowering down payment ratios for home purchases, reducing mortgage interest rates, adjusting criteria for regular residential classification, and extending loan terms.
The Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban Development, a division of the municipal government overseeing housing provision and regulation, announced on last Thursday a reduction in the down payment ratio for first homes from a minimum of 35 percent to 30 percent. Additionally, for second-home buyers, the down payment ratio was lowered from at least 60 percent to 40 percent. Shanghai’s municipality unveiled its own down payment ratio cuts just hours after Beijing’s announcement.
Experts believe that these consecutive policy adjustments in Beijing and Shanghai send more positive signals to the market, aiming to boost market confidence and promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.
German-Born Panda Twins Arrive in Chengdu
On December 17, giant panda twins “Mengxiang” and “Mengyuan” arrived safely in Chengdu under the joint guarantee of the Chinese and German sides, according to the cooperation agreement on giant panda conservation and research signed between the Berlin Zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA). These two pandas are the first pair of giant panda twins born in Germany on August 31, four years ago.
In June 2017, female giant panda Mengmeng and male giant panda Jiaoqing arrived at the Berlin Zoo in Germany from Chengdu, China, to begin their 15-year stay. On August 31, 2019, Mengmeng gave birth to twins Mengxiang and Mengyuan. Nowadays, the panda family has become the favorite stars of the Berlin Zoo. This year, at least 17 pandas have been returned to China from overseas countries, including the United States, France and Japan.
Chinese University Grants Exam Subsidies to Poor College Students
On December 16, a student at Jilin University in northeast China’s Jilin Province posted a screenshot of a text message in which the university quietly issued him an examination subsidy of 500 RMB. The student said he did not apply for subsidies. It may be because the university identified him as a poor student through big data, based on his spending trajectory.
In an interview later, a staff member working at Jilin University’s student financial aid center said the university conducts researches before exams and grants exam subsidies to students who are not in a good financial situation. The criteria for the examination subsidies are a 1,000 yuan subsidy for particularly poor students and a 500 yuan subsidy for generally poor students. This is to ensure that these students will not be affected in their exams due to financial reasons, and also to let them know that the university is their solid backing.