China to promote renewal of urban villages, dilapidated houses
The Central Urban Work Conference last met in 2015, when China launched a massive state-backed redevelopment of informal settlements, which helped boost the country's property market and fuelled a surge in housing prices.
The meeting was held on Monday and Tuesday with President Xi Jinping giving a speech on the country's urban planning.
"China's urbanisation is shifting from rapid growth to stable development, and urban development is shifting from a stage of large-scale expansion to a stage focused on improving the quality and efficiency of inventories," Xinhua said, citing the meeting.
The world's second-biggest economy has limited room to repeat such a large housing stimulus as 2015, given the changed landscape of the property market - marked by a massive oversupply of housing and weak demand as a result of job and income insecurity amid ongoing trade tensions, analysts said.
The property sector, which accounted for about a quarter of economic activity before it collapsed roughly four years ago, remains a drag on government efforts to achieve its annual growth target of "around 5%".
China's new home prices fell at the fastest monthly pace in eight months in June, official data showed on Tuesday, adding to calls for additional market support.
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