Xi Jinping’s most audacious attempt to revive China’s property crisis is running into an unexpected roadblock: local government leaders who seem not to have gotten the memo.
Headlines surrounding the efforts announced four months ago focused on 300 billion yuan (US$42.5 billion) of central bank cash being deployed to buy up unsold homes. But the real thrust of the scheme was prodding local authorities to hoover up excess housing supply by far greater amounts around the nation.
So far, though, fewer than 30 mainland cities out of the more than 200 Beijing hoped to incentivize have heeded the call. This raises a tantalizing question: Are municipal officials being delinquent, or is their inaction because they see a bigger picture that Xi’s team is missing?