MNI China Press Digest Sep 9: Infrastructure, Real Estate

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• Infrastructure investment may grow more than 10% y/y in Q3, supported by CNY600 billion of targeted funding from state-owned policy banks by the end of September, the Securities Times reported. Projects to be funded include the renovation of old communities, provincial highways and electric vehicle charging stations. Local governments are accelerating project construction, with Xinjiang having about 8,000 projects with an investment of more than CNY5 million each under construction in August.
• Jinan City Development Group, a state-owned property developer in Shandong province, will buy 3,000 homes and use them for affordable rental housing to relieve pressure on local property developers and stabilise the housing market, Yicai.com reported. Since buyers started a mortgage boycott on unfinished projects in early July, localities have pushed to ensure delivery of unfinished projects through bailout funds and by promoting mergers and acquisitions by asset management companies. Large-scale home purchases by state-owned developers could bolster the market but that would require them to lower their criteria for property acquisitions, the newspaper said citing an unnamed insider.