MNI China Press Digest May 07: Property, SOEs, France

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Tuesday:

• Tier-one city Shenzhen lowered homebuying thresholds in seven non-core districts on Monday following Beijing’s move to relax home purchase limits in suburban areas late April, cls.cn reported. Homebuyers without local residency will have homebuying qualifications if they have paid one year of income tax or social security, compared to the previous three-year requirement. While local families with more than two minor children are allowed to purchase an additional house in those districts. Housing inventories remain high in those districts and home prices continue to fall, pressuring surrounding second-hand housing prices and accelerating market decline, the news agency noted.
• Chinese SOE fixed-asset investment reached CNY2.5 trillion in Q1, up 10.4% y/y , 5.9 pp higher than the national level due to strong investment in strategic emerging industries, according to Hu Chi, a researcher at the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. SOEs investing in fixed assets marks the first step to achieve the goal of 35% of revenue from strategic emerging industries by 2025, Hu added. SOEs in culture and tourism sectors recovered rapidly in Q1 as the macro-economy stabilised, said Wu Gangliang, a researcher at the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association.
• President Xi Jinping emphasised China will import more high quality French agricultural products, including ham and wine, in a meeting with President Macron in Paris. China will also extend the visa free policy for citizens of 12 countries including France, until the end of 2025. Meeting President von der Leyen, President Xi said the EU and China were two important forces in the world, and both sides should adhere to their partnership and promote stable and healthy relations. (Source: Yicai)