Guangzhou: Optimizing Real Estate Policies, Fully Lifting Purchase, Resale, and Price Restrictions, and Reducing Down Payment Ratios and Interest Rates for Loans

The "Implementation Plan for Guangzhou's Special Action to Boost Consumption (Draft for Public Consultation)" is open for public comments.

It mentions the orderly reduction of consumption restrictions. Real estate policies will be optimized by completely lifting purchase restrictions, sales restrictions, and price caps, as well as lowering down payment ratios and interest rates for loans. This will better meet housing consumption demands. Solid progress will be made in the renovation of urban villages and old residential communities. In 2025, it is planned to commence renovations on over 150 old residential communities, replace over 9,000 outdated elevators in residential buildings, and complete fixed asset investments of 100 billion yuan in urban village renovations. The use of special loans to purchase existing commercial housing as resettlement housing will be promoted. The housing provident fund usage policy will be continuously optimized to support contributors in applying for individual housing loans from the housing provident fund while withdrawing funds from it to pay for down payments on home purchases. Measures to optimize the policy for withdrawing funds from the housing provident fund for rent payments will be further refined.

It also mentions vigorously developing sports consumption. Efforts will be made to fully prepare for the 15th National Games and the National Paralympic & Special Olympics Games in the Guangzhou competition zone, and to host major events such as the World Athletics Relays and the Guangzhou Marathon at a high level. Sports promotion activities, including sports carnivals, sports consumption seasons, and nationwide fitness activities, will be organized to drive sports-related consumption by bringing sports competitions into scenic spots, neighborhoods, and business districts. Support will be provided for the quality improvement and upgrading of ice and snow venues such as Huadu Sunac Resort, and the construction and operation of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Conghua Racecourse will be accelerated to promote the development of consumption in ice and snow sports and horse racing.

Implementation Plan for Guangzhou's Special Action to Boost Consumption

(Draft for Public Consultation)

In order to implement the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption, fulfill relevant work requirements of the province, further stimulate the vitality of our city's consumer market, and comprehensively expand consumption demand, this plan is formulated in light of the actual situation of our city.

I. Actions to Promote Employment and Increase Residents' Incomes

(1) Promoting employment through multiple approaches. A series of large-scale job fairs titled "Good Jobs in Guangzhou" will be held, and "Union-Aided Employment" job fairs and career guidance lectures will be conducted both online and offline. The quality of employment service stations will be upgraded, and pilot projects will be launched to create comprehensive public employment service complexes, optimizing the 15-minute employment service circle. A total of 350 public welfare positions will be developed and reserved, with a focus on placing groups facing difficulties in finding employment. The policy of temporarily reducing unemployment insurance premium rates will be extended. Employment and entrepreneurship services for graduates of municipal universities in 2025 will be well-organized, with the goal of achieving an average employment placement rate of no less than 70% by the end of July.

(2) Expanding channels for property income. State-owned enterprises will be organized to carry out the declaration and submission of state-owned capital gains, and the market value management of state-owned publicly listed firms will be strengthened. Securities institutions will be encouraged to develop over-the-counter bond businesses and support individual investors in investing in government bonds traded on exchanges. Research will be conducted to promote the revitalization and utilization of idle rural collective land and legally owned housing of rural households through leasing, equity participation, cooperation, and other means.

(III) Promote reasonable income growth through multiple measures. Strictly implement the minimum wage guarantee system, and adjust and implement the minimum wage standard at 2,500 yuan per month. Improve the mechanism for regular wage increases for workers, and in accordance with national and provincial deployment requirements, routinely advance the work of clearing up overdue payments to small and medium-sized enterprises. Improve the multi-level and multi-field policy system for supporting and benefiting agriculture and farmers, and safeguard the income of grain-growing farmers. Accelerate the disbursement of subsidy funds for the scrappage and renewal of old agricultural machinery. Implement the "22 Measures for the Northern Mountainous Areas" to significantly enhance the comprehensive strength of the northern mountainous areas and achieve sustained and rapid growth in the income of rural residents. Implement actions to enhance the capabilities of new-type agricultural business entities and guide and drive the development of farmers.

II. Support Actions for Ensuring Consumption Capacity

(IV) Strengthen support for childbirth and child-rearing. Implement the national childcare subsidy policy and increase support for childbirth in eligible families. Include eligible flexible workers, migrant workers, and individuals in new forms of employment who participate in the basic medical insurance for employees within the scope of maternity insurance coverage in accordance with regulations. Implement actions to improve the quality of pediatric medical services, promote the provision of pediatric services in all secondary and tertiary public general hospitals in the city, ensure that no fewer than 30 secondary and above public general hospitals establish pediatric holiday outpatient clinics, and achieve a ratio of 2.5 pediatric beds per 1,000 children. Establish 20 childbirth-friendly hospitals and 20 child-friendly hospitals. By 2025, the proportion of primary-level medical and health institutions providing pediatric services will exceed 90%.

(V) Strengthen the supply of educational services. Promote the orderly operation of 5 preschool education integrated management resource centers and 20 provincial-level pilot high-quality kindergarten communities, driving the improvement of the quality of rural kindergartens through radiation. Add 1-2 municipal demonstration sites for kindergartens to provide childcare services, and complete the construction of "1+11" urban and suburban-level comprehensive childcare service centers. By 2025, increase the enrollment plan for regular high schools by 10,000 students, and implement relevant policies for the enrollment of children of migrant workers in compulsory education. Increase the national grant standards for high school and secondary vocational school students, and expand the coverage of national grants for secondary vocational schools.

(VI) Enhance the level of medical and elderly care security. Reasonably determine the financial subsidy standards for funding urban and rural residents' medical insurance, and steadily increase the level of basic old-age insurance benefits. Deepen the role of pilot projects for remote collaboration in the integration of medical and elderly care services, and explore and promote "Internet + nursing" services. Improve the construction of the long-term care insurance system and promote the construction of nursing-type beds in elderly care institutions. Implement health service actions for disabled elderly individuals, guiding medical institutions to conduct health assessments and provide health services for disabled elderly individuals.

(VII) Strengthen basic living security for key groups. Improve the tiered and categorized social assistance system and enhance the construction of the assistance and support module for low-income populations. Ensure that the assistance standards for urban and rural minimum living security and other assistance programs are not lower than the provincial requirements, and that the basic living standards for individuals in extreme difficulty are not less than 1.6 times the minimum living security standard. Fully lift the household registration restrictions for flexible workers employed in our city to participate in the basic medical insurance for employees, and promote the expansion of pilot programs for occupational injury insurance for workers in new forms of employment. Timely and fully disburse unemployment insurance benefits, appropriately increase the basic pensions for retirees, and the basic pensions for urban and rural residents.

III. Action Plan for Upgrading Service Consumption and Benefiting the People

(8) Enhance the "Food in Guangzhou" Brand. Host a series of food events, including the Guangzhou International Food Festival, Guangzhou Gourmet Week, and Yangcheng Dim Sum Season, cultivate and establish clusters of Chinese and Western cuisine, and distribute "Food in Guangzhou" dining vouchers. Promote Cantonese cuisine through multiple channels to continuously enhance the "Food in Guangzhou" brand.

(9) Optimize the Supply of Cultural and Tourism Consumption. Leverage cultural venues, scenic spots, and other resources to innovate consumption scenarios and formats, and enrich the consumption linked to the ticket economy. Optimize "online reservations" and guide tourist attractions to expand service offerings, increase reception capacity, and extend opening hours. Support initiatives such as "Travel with Food" and "Travel with Performances," and organize cultural and tourism events such as the Greater Bay Area Music Festival, Guangzhou Arts Season, Yangcheng Summer Cultural Season for Citizens, Film Industry Expo and Trade Fair, and Cultural Industry Trade Fair.

(10) Vigorously Develop Sports Consumption. Make every effort to prepare for the Guangzhou section of the 15th National Games and the National Para Games for Persons with Disabilities, and host major events such as the World Athletics Relays and the Guangzhou Marathon at a high level. Launch sports carnivals, sports consumption seasons, national fitness activities, and other sports-driven consumption initiatives to promote sports competitions in scenic spots, neighborhoods, and business districts. Support the upgrading of ice and snow venues such as Sunac Cultural Tourism City in Huadu District, accelerate the construction and operation of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Conghua Racecourse, and promote the development of ice and snow sports and horse racing consumption.

(11) Innovate and Develop the Silver Economy. Actively promote the implementation of the "Renewal" campaign for home adaptations for the elderly, expand accessible home-based community elderly care services, and stimulate consumption in elderly care services. Launch the "Silver Age Initiative" and organize a series of "Happy Living in Yangcheng" silver fairs. Support and guide various business entities to participate in the development and operation of silver tourism trains and dedicated tourist railway lines, promote in-depth cooperation between brand catering, time-honored enterprises, and tourism train operators, and enrich service offerings.

(12) Actively Expand Inbound Consumption. Implement the 240-hour visa-free transit policy and enhance the level of customs clearance facilitation services. Increase promotional efforts for inbound tourism and provide free one-day tours of Guangzhou for international transit tourists. We will promote the expansion of duty-free shopping stores for departing travelers and the range of products available, popularize the "buy now, claim tax refund later" service for departing travelers, increase the coverage rate of POS machines that accept foreign cards, and enhance the shopping experience for inbound travelers. We will expedite the opening of duty-free stores in the city and strive to establish more duty-free stores at ports.

(XIII) Deepen International Cooperation in the Service Sector. We will deepen the construction of the national comprehensive pilot program for expanding opening-up in the service sector and enhance the "Shared Services" brand of Guangzhou. We will facilitate the establishment of international medical institutions as wholly foreign-owned hospitals. Simplify the procedures for Hong Kong and Macao medical practitioners to practice in Guangzhou. Support the high-quality development of Sino-foreign cooperative education programs at the senior high school level, as well as the healthy and orderly development of schools for children of foreign nationals and schools for children from Hong Kong and Macao. Continue to implement the subsidy policy for private elderly care institutions, treating investors from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, foreign countries, and the mainland equally when establishing elderly care institutions.

IV. Action Plan for Upgrading and Renewing Bulk Consumption

(XIV) Intensify and Expand the Implementation of Trade-in Policies for Consumer Goods. We will make good use of the funds allocated for trade-in policies for consumer goods, increase the variety of subsidized products based on the actual industrial and consumer needs, launch group-buying campaigns in "five settings" (communities, enterprises, institutions, rural areas, and online platforms), and continue to drive consumption of home appliances, automobiles, and other related products. We will strengthen support for individual consumers in renovating old houses, upgrading kitchens and bathrooms, and making homes more elderly-friendly.

(XV) Better Meet Housing Consumption Demands. We will steadily advance the renovation of urban villages and old residential communities. In 2025, we plan to commence renovation work on over 150 old residential communities, replace over 9,000 old elevators in residential buildings, and achieve fixed asset investment of 100 billion yuan in the renovation of urban villages. We will promote the use of special loans to purchase existing commercial housing as resettlement housing. Continuously optimize the policies for the use of housing provident funds, allowing contributors to apply for personal housing loans from the housing provident fund while withdrawing funds from it to pay the down payment for home purchases, and further refine the policy measures for withdrawing funds from the housing provident fund for rent payments.

(XVI) Expand Automotive Consumption Scenarios. We will actively strive for pilot programs in automotive circulation and consumption reform. Host high-level automotive events and professional exhibitions. Improve the recycling system for scrapped motor vehicles and support the large-scale development of the used car circulation industry. Continuously implement convenient measures such as "reverse invoicing" for used car sales.

V. Action Plan for Enhancing Consumption Quality

(XVII) Build the "Eight New Scenic Spots of Consumption in Guangzhou" Urban Consumption Brand. We will strengthen the integration and linkage of commerce, tourism, culture, sports, and health to build the "Eight New Scenic Spots of Consumption in Guangzhou" urban consumption brand. Centered around eight consumption scenarios, including "Flower Market Tour", "Pet Paradise", "Canton Fair Experience", and "Same Boat Ride", we will launch a variety of themed consumption promotion activities throughout the year, enrich consumption formats such as pet-friendly and dragon boat culture, and shape the image of Guangzhou as a "shopping paradise" with Lingnan charm, Chinese style, and global appeal.

(18) Actively Foster New-Type Consumption. Develop live-streaming e-commerce, instant retail, and community group buying to create new consumption scenarios integrating online and offline experiences. Promote cruise tourism by developing distinctive consumption scenarios from ship to shore at Nansha International Cruise Home Port. Actively explore low-altitude tourism applications and guide the piloting of point-to-point low-altitude tourism. Cultivate and create new performance spaces, scenarios, and formats, incubating content for small theaters and innovative venues. Foster youth consumption hotspots such as pet-friendly and trendy fashion scenes.

(19) Promote High-Quality Development of First-Economy. Implement policies supporting first-economy development, encourage domestic and overseas premium brands to launch new products, debuts, and exhibitions in Guangzhou, build distinctive first-event brands, and attract more flagship stores to settle in the city. Release the 2.0 version of the First-Economy Space Guide, strengthen professional platforms for new product launches, and incubate more local high-tier leading consumer brands.

(20) Strengthen the "Young City Yeah Market" Brand. Support the optimization and expansion of the first 15 Yangcheng Night Market pilot zones, incubate multiple nighttime consumption highlights, and establish regular market operation bases. Enhance resource allocation, administrative support, and nighttime supervision to continuously boost nighttime consumption vitality.

(21) Enhance Exhibition-Driven Consumption. Meticulously organize Canton Fair’s local service support, optimize urban services in cityscape, port services, "dining, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment," and payment convenience. Organize diverse consumption promotion activities, encourage key business districts, tourist attractions, and specialized markets to offer exclusive "Canton Fair Privileges," and transform merchant "traffic" into consumption "retention" with "Guangzhou-style service."

(22) Accelerate Domestic and Overseas Trade Integration. Select and cultivate pilot enterprises for integrated domestic and overseas trade, support foreign trade firms in diversifying markets. Implement the "Quality Foreign Trade Products China Tour" initiative, deepen brand and supply-demand matching between domestic and overseas trade enterprises. Advance "Greater Bay Area Certification," 3C exemption, and green channels for export-to-domestic sales 3C certification. Support insurers in developing domestic trade insurance services.

VI. Consumer Environment Enhancement Actions

(23) Safeguard Rest and Leave Rights. Revise and improve the Guangzhou Standard Labor Contract, clarifying employees’ legal rights to rest and leave. Strengthen labor law supervision by trade unions to protect workers’ rest and leave entitlements.

(24) Continuously Optimize the Consumer Environment. Promote the "Double Commitment" campaign for trustworthy consumption, aiming to add no fewer than 1,800 new Trustworthy Consumption Commitment units and 500 offline No-Reason Return Commitment stores by 2025. Improve the credit construction system and promote credit buildings and honest business districts. Establish and develop consumer rights protection service stations and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) enterprises, and continuously improve the mechanism for prior reconciliation of consumer complaints. Conduct price supervision and inspection, as well as anti-unfair competition law enforcement, and investigate and handle various illegal and irregular activities in accordance with the law. Make good use of the "9+2" joint regulatory mechanism for the tourism market in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to maintain a good market order for cultural and tourism consumption.

(25) Promote the quality upgrade of consumption carriers. Launch pilot projects for the construction of a modern commercial circulation system and innovative improvement of the retail industry. Promote the construction of high-end commercial carriers such as Poly Dragon Bay Taikoo Li, China Resources MixC, and SKP. Strive to be selected as the fifth batch of provincial-level model pedestrian streets (business districts). Advance the pilot construction of urban 15-minute convenient living circles, accelerate the construction of end-point intelligent delivery facilities such as integrated postal and express delivery service sites or smart parcel lockers to meet the retail delivery needs of online and offline integration, and improve the supply efficiency and coverage rate of livelihood products in the last mile. Evaluate and designate a number of graded rural hotels (homestays), support high-grade homestays in applying for national-level homestay ratings, and create clusters of rural hotels (homestays).

(26) Encourage trade unions to boost consumption. Encourage trade unions at all levels to allocate funds for consumption areas such as festival gifts, employee cultural and sports fitness activities, and rural rehabilitation and recuperation activities. Guide grassroots trade unions to increase funding input and actively expand the coverage of employee rehabilitation and recuperation activities.

VII. Action to Clear and Optimize Restrictive Measures

(27) Gradually reduce consumption restrictions. Optimize real estate policies by comprehensively lifting purchase restrictions, sales restrictions, and price restrictions, and reducing the down payment ratio and interest rates for loans. Advance the implementation of a policy allowing individuals who have failed to win a small passenger car license plate after 72 attempts to directly apply for an incremental license plate for ordinary vehicles. Ensure that all types of business entities can participate equally in social group procurement, and refrain from setting procurement thresholds such as ownership or merchant ratings in disguised forms.

(28) Create a first-class business environment. Thoroughly implement the Three-Year Action Plan for Guangzhou to Promote the Construction of an International First-Class Business Environment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, deepen the special action of "Great Transformation of Cadre Work Style, Great Improvement of Business Environment," and promote the continuous improvement of the city's business environment. Implement full online processing of the "safety permit for large-scale mass activities" at both the municipal and district levels, including acceptance, approval, and certificate issuance, and implement one-time safety permits for some sports activities. Formulate the 2025 "Comprehensive Inspection Once" plan to achieve "multiple inspections in one visit." Study and establish a list of "no unnecessary disturbance" enterprises to minimize disruptions to their production and operation activities.

VIII. Strengthen Policy Support and Guarantees

(29) Strengthen policy coordination and linkage. Enhance the coordination of fiscal, tax, financial, industrial, and investment policies with consumption policies. Strengthen cross-departmental empowerment and cross-sector collaboration to plan for policy innovation.

(30) Strengthen the Supporting Role of Investment. Actively seek national-level support for the implementation of major national strategies and the development of security capabilities in key areas through ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to fund projects in education, healthcare, and other sectors in our city. Support eligible projects in consumption, culture, and tourism to issue Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in the infrastructure sector. Utilize ultra-long-term treasury bonds to carry out "Renewal" activities for home aging-in-place renovations and increase support for sports-related project construction.

(31) Leverage the Guiding and Catalytic Role of Fiscal Funds. Employ fiscal subsidies, loan interest discounts, and other policy tools to integrate consumption promotion with livelihood benefits and addressing shortcomings. Intensify efforts to secure policy-based funds such as central budget allocations.

(32) Strengthen Credit Support. Guide banking institutions to implement interest rate pricing self-discipline mechanisms and deepen the "Win-Win Plan for Enterprises" to better meet the financing needs of key sectors. Encourage financial institutions, under controllable risks, to increase personal consumption loan issuance, appropriately raise loan limits, extend loan terms, and set reasonable loan interest rates. Support banking institutions in innovating consumer financial products tailored to new consumption models like e-commerce and service demands in health, education, and digital sectors.

(33) Improve Consumption Statistics and Monitoring. Refine statistical monitoring for service consumption and new consumption formats and models, and enhance the comprehensive statistical system for consumption.

All departments must fully recognize the importance of revitalizing consumption, diligently advance the implementation of tasks according to their respective responsibilities, establish clear time periods and implementation pathways, strengthen inter-departmental coordination, and consolidate efforts to ensure the effective implementation of policies and measures to boost consumption.