‘Disappointing’: China’s US$42 billion plan to buy up unsold homes rolls out slowly

Slow implementation is hampering China’s 300 billion yuan (US$42 billion) plan to have local governments buy up unsold flats to help troubled developers, blunting the effect of a programme that was already seen as too limited to improve the fortunes of the country’s troubled property sector, according to analysts.

While a growing number of Chinese cities have said they will support the plan following Beijing’s announcement of the relending facility in May, precious little progress has been made, with only about five cities actually making purchases so far, according to a China Real Estate Information Corporation (CRIC) report on Monday.