Call made in China for national housing bank to prop up property

China should establish a national housing bank to optimize use of the country's housing provident funds, which have over 3.7 trillion yuan ($597.45 billion) at their disposal, according to an article written by an official with Ministry of Housing and Urban, Rural Construction. A national housing bank could offer low interest rate housing loans to help middle and low income home buyers, bolstering demand in a sluggish real estate market, and reducing risks for commercial banks, the official said in the article cited by Xinhua News Agency on Monday. Zhang Qiguang, head of the Ministry's housing provident fund supervision department, also proposed the housing fund include rural workers who seek jobs in urban areas and offer government support to help them buy homes, Xinhua said. Just a week ago, China offered tax breaks to home buyers and reduced down payment requirements for the second time in six months, in a bid to halt a slide in house prices that is threatening to undermine the world's second-biggest economy.

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