China

China Daily | English | News | Dec. 5, 2025 | Regulation

China’s real estate sector is set for a significant transformation over the next five years, shifting from a growth-driven focus to prioritizing comprehensive living standards. The government’s new five-year plan emphasizes “promoting high-quality real estate development” within the context of social welfare and public livelihood, signaling a move from merely ensuring housing availability to enhancing housing quality and livability.

In 2024, the combined real estate and construction sectors contributed 13 percent to China’s GDP. Housing demand has evolved due to demographic changes such as an aging population, declining birth rates, population shifts, and changing lifestyles, necessitating a more personalized and diversified approach to housing. Authorities are aiming to create a new real estate development model that responds to these trends.

The nationwide housing shortage has largely ended, but structural challenges persist, especially in meeting the specific needs of young people and new urban migrants in major cities. Cities experiencing population inflows are encouraged to increase the supply of government-subsidized housing, guided by a data-driven understanding of population composition. From 2021 to 2025, over 11 million affordable and resettlement housing units were constructed, benefiting more than 30 million people.

The market is seeing a growing demand for “improved” and “quality” housing, with larger units (120-144 square meters) becoming mainstream in 30 key cities in 2025. Supply of such housing is viewed as crucial for stimulating demand and driving a new cycle of positive real estate market development. Policymakers are also expected to gradually ease purchase restrictions, particularly in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, to support consumer activity.

Additionally, there may be further reductions in mortgage rates tied to the five-year loan prime rate and cuts in taxes and fees related to home purchasing to alleviate financial pressure on buyers. These measures aim to foster a healthier and more sustainable real estate market moving forward.

深圳罗湖发布全市首个口岸经济发展措施

STCN | Local Language | News | Dec. 5, 2025 | UndeterminedEconomic Growth

Shenzhen’s Luohu District has unveiled the city’s first comprehensive port economic development measures aimed at leveraging its advantages as a port cluster and fostering a distinctive port economic belt. The plan focuses on transforming the port from a transit point into a multifunctional hub integrating commerce, inbound consumption, scenario demonstration, and talent exchange. It outlines four main strategic directions with 12 measures designed to activate the port economy's full potential.

In trade and industrial upgrading, Luohu will attract headquarters engaged in high value-added product trade, implement centralized procurement for agricultural products and energy, create digital supply chain platforms, and develop a "front shop, back warehouse" model with Hong Kong. The district will also focus on financial services, knowledge-intensive enterprises, a digital creative arts street, and cutting-edge industries such as AI and health, including new facilities like an AI industry–education–research base and a Shenzhen–Hong Kong life and health industrial park.

To boost consumption, Luohu aims to establish a high-luxury consumption center attracting international brands and develop cross-border experience centers focused on smart home products. Cooperation with Hong Kong’s gold and jewelry sector will deepen, and service consumption enhancements include introducing more Hong Kong dining and Michelin-starred restaurants, upgrading hotels, expanding high-end medical and cosmetic services, and promoting elderly care and pet-related market potential.

Innovation in scenarios and operational models incorporates AI-driven initiatives such as port digital humans, unmanned cross-border transport pilots, AI translation, and consumer rights protection. At Wenjindu port, pilot projects will include drone logistics delivery and expansion of low-altitude transport services for high value-added goods, contributing to a new integrated "low-altitude + culture & tourism + commerce" development model.

Cultural and youth integration efforts will develop the Renmin South–East Gate cultural tourism street, revitalize historic buildings, enhance cultural event brands, and bolster education cooperation with Hong Kong. The strategy provides support for young people through innovation incubation bases, youth vitality streets, and adapted housing, facilitating a "borderless twin-city" living circle within the Greater Bay Area.

Reports indicate Shenzhen ports have surpassed 240 million passenger clearances in 2025 as of late November, breaking the previous year’s record ahead of schedule. Customized clearance innovations at major ports like Luohu, Futian, and Shenzhen Bay are advancing seamless cross-border processes and expanded operational hours, alongside piloting new routes and direct bus networks to streamline commute between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Experts emphasize the importance of converting cross-border traffic into economic growth by introducing Hong Kong-style consumption streets, facilitating cross-border commutes to business and research hubs, and enhancing coordinated public services for Hong Kong residents. Concurrently, Hong Kong is encouraged to transform its tourism and cultural sectors towards service-oriented offers, leveraging its metropolitan status to transform transient visitors into consistent consumers.

从一张免税单看海南自贸港建设（经济新方位）

Guangming Daily | Local Language | News | Dec. 5, 2025 | UndeterminedTrade Issues and Numbers

The Hainan Free Trade Port has implemented a duty-free receipt policy focused on processing value-added tax exemptions, which has been refined over more than four years since its introduction in July 2021. Initially applicable to sectors such as grains, oil, jade, and meats, the policy now extends to pharmaceuticals, jewelry, petrochemicals, and other industries across the entire island. By October 2025, 129 enterprises were approved as pilot participants, achieving approximately 11.096 billion yuan in processing value-added domestic sales and securing around 860 million yuan in customs duty exemptions.

The policy mandates that imported goods processed in the Free Trade Port must have a processing added-value rate of at least 30% to qualify for duty exemption, encouraging high value-added manufacturing rather than simple transshipment. The initial implementation was piloted by Hainan Aoscar International Grain & Oil Co., which, with support from local authorities and customs, developed operational guidelines clarifying cost calculation, distinguishing material and parts costs from labor and energy inputs to determine added value. This framework enabled enterprises to meet policy requirements and shaped a collaborative problem-solving model between government and businesses.

Challenges arose in industries with complex processing, such as beef jerky production, where auxiliary ingredients like scallions and garlic needed to be categorized appropriately in cost calculations. After negotiations, these ingredients were excluded from material costs as they do not add weight but contribute to flavor, thus enhancing added value. This case established a precedent for tailored, case-by-case resolution, moving away from one-size-fits-all approaches and fostering cooperation between customs and enterprises.

The policy’s benefits are extending along industrial chains, improving governance from regulatory control toward service provision aimed at industrial strengthening. In the pearl industry, for example, the duty exemption on imported seawater pearls has saved companies substantial costs, allowing reinvestment into research and development for new product lines. Further policy optimizations set for implementation on December 18, 2025, include combining processing value-added statistics of upstream and downstream enterprises and excluding the cost of Hainan-produced goods from material costs, facilitating easier compliance with the 30% threshold and encouraging deep processing and industrial integration within the Free Trade Port.

The evolution of the duty-free receipt policy from initial pilot trials to comprehensive industrial ecosystem support highlights its role as a foundational element in building a modern, advanced industrial system with Hainan characteristics. The process underscores a long-term commitment to creating a competitive business environment that promotes innovation, industrial upgrading, and integrated supply chains.