10 trillion yuan of existing housing provident fund welcomes the opportunity to activate contracts

1、 Ten Years of Revisiting Reforms: Releasing Heavy Policy Signals

The last time the reform of the housing provident fund system was included in the government work report was in 2015. This time, returning to the top-level design perspective and forming a policy relay with the Central Economic Work Conference and the National Housing and Urban Rural Development Work Conference, sends a clear signal that the housing provident fund system will shift from a single purchase support to a more comprehensive, active, and efficient universal livelihood guarantee system.

As of the end of 2024, the balance of housing provident fund contributions in China has reached 10.9 trillion yuan, with over 170 million people having actually paid in. For a long time, the accumulation of some funds, narrow usage scenarios, and insufficient cross regional convenience have constrained the effectiveness of the system. Against the backdrop of the real estate market entering a transition from old to new drivers, and housing demand shifting towards new citizens, young people, families with multiple children, and improvement groups, revitalizing this huge amount of livelihood funds is not only a measure to stabilize the market, but also a strategy to benefit people's livelihoods.

2、 Four major directions of reform: revitalizing dormant funds

Based on recent local pilot projects and authoritative interpretations, this round of housing provident fund reform will focus on four core directions, directly benefiting billions of depositors:

1. Expand the usage scenarios and move from "housing only" to "housing full cycle": support the extraction of rental, decoration, property management fees, renovation of old residential areas, urban renewal, etc. Some areas have piloted the use of housing provident fund for parking space purchase and house reinforcement renovation, making it more closely related to daily living needs.

2. Improve loan convenience and reduce property costs: increase loan limits, optimize the recognition of second homes, comprehensively promote the "commercial to public" conversion, cancel unnecessary restrictions, and combine with the reduction of housing provident fund loan interest rates to historical lows, further reducing the pressure of basic needs and improving monthly household payments.

3. Expand coverage and benefit more groups: include flexible employment personnel, new citizens, and new business workers in the deposit system, with supporting deposit subsidies and low threshold participation mechanisms, allowing more people to enjoy the benefits of low interest loans.

4. Break down regional barriers, promote national coordination and convenient processing: accelerate mutual recognition of loans between different regions, cross provincial connectivity, and full online processing, achieve "more data running and less people running errands", and adapt to the new normal of population mobility.

3、 Multiple effects manifest: benefiting people's livelihoods, stabilizing the market, and promoting consumption

The implementation of the housing provident fund reform will bring three positive impacts:

For homebuyers: lower threshold, wider range of uses, more cost-effective, easier access for first-time buyers, and smoother replacement.

To the market: effectively activate reasonable housing consumption, help reduce inventory, stabilize expectations, and promote the smooth and healthy operation of the market.

For people's livelihood: Efficient activation of 10 trillion yuan of existing funds, transformed into disposable consumption and security power, forming a virtuous cycle of "deposit use benefit".