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Post by bot on Feb 7, 2012 23:40:25 GMT -5
China to help first-time home buyers from MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China's central bank pledged Wednesday to support first-time home buyers, marking the first notable softening in tone towards the real-estate sector since a clampdown on prices that began in mid-2010. The People's Bank of China said it would ensure lending support to affordable housing projects and take other steps to address credit flows to "weak links," including first-time home buyers, according to a statement posted on its website. Societe Generale economist Wei Yao said the statement signals a "significant" shift that gives more weight to demand in the private sector, but it shouldn't be seen as a reversal of the broad program to prevent a bubble in housing. "This change was probably a response to the rapidly worsening property data, and aimed to lead the sector to bottom-out earlier than later. However, we don't think Beijing will reverse its tough stance on speculative demand and developers so soon," Yao said in a note Wednesday.
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