2023 World Cities Day China Observance
Housing Rental Symposium Successfully Held
It is the first time that the Housing Rental Symposium was set up in 2023 World Cities Day China Observance. On October 30th, China Institute of Real Estate Appraisers and Agents (herein referred to as CIREA) and Zhejiang University of Technology co-organized the Symposium, with the theme of “Sharing Sustainable Urban Future –A Road for High-Quality Housing Rental Development”. Mr. Li Zhe, Deputy Director-General of the Finance Planning and Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ms. LengYuying, Deputy Director-General of Shanghai Housing Management Bureau, and Dr. Chai Qiang, President of CIREA attended and gave speeches. Mr. Zhao Xinming, Vice President and Secretary General of CIREA hosted the Symposium. Participants discussed strategies to promote the high-quality development of housing rental and build an inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable urban living environment.
Ms. LengYuying, Deputy Director-General of Shanghai Housing Management Bureau, pointed out in the opening speech that aimed at solving the problems in rental requirements of new citizens and young people, Shanghai has approved multiple initiatives to promote the development of the housing rental market, maintain a favorable business environment, and gather a group of housing rental enterprises. Meanwhile, actively responding to what the society concerns, making positive reaction in regulating housing rental market and improving management efficacy are of great importance of the Bureau’s work. Shanghai will continue to demand that innovative development concepts be implemented, that hard work be put into advancing the transition to a low-carbon, green lifestyle and establishing high-quality living standards, and that Shanghai knowledge and Shanghai power be applied to the sustainable growth of the housing rental market.
Dr. Chai Qiang, President of CIREA, noted that since CIREA has undertaken the function of self-regulation and management of the housing rental sector, we have been actively playing the role of a bridge and a staff assistant, and constantly promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the industry. As an essential part of the 2023 World Cities Day China Observance, the Symposium symbolizes the importance of housing in city development. Under the circumstance of “housing rentals and purchases”, the housing rental sector needs to learn from the past route of fast development, and consider the route of sustainable development. Dr. Chai thought that the connotation of sustainable development in housing rental sector includes to realize the reasonable repay of investment, to push forward the practice of ESG, at the same time, housing rental enterprises should actively take part in the social governance, as well as take on relevant social responsibilities actively.
Mr. Li Zhe, Deputy Director-General of Finance Planning and Foreign Affairs Department of Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, stated in the closing speech that the development of housing rental market is related to the new way of urbanization, to the sense of happiness and contentment of new citizens and young people, to cities competitiveness and sustainable development. World Cities Day China Observance – Housing Rental Symposium is co-organized by national housing rental organization CIREA and Zhejiang University of Technology, which gives a full play to gather the industry wisdom by the organization and the advantage of Industry-University-Research led by the university. The Symposium focuses on social concerns and prospective topics such as, how housing rental gives aids to build a high-quality living environment, and typical cases on how to reconstruct housing rental projects.
Centering on the theme, experts and representatives from local organizations and enterprises shared their views and had heated discussions on solving problems in the development of housing rental market, subsidized housing rental policies and mechanisms for continuous development, how housing rental can assist in building high-quality living environment, ESG for improving the continuous development of housing rental industry, professional appraisal to help the healthy development of subsidized housing rental industry and case studies. Professor Yu Xiaofen, CIREA Vice President and Vice Principal of the Zhejiang University of Technology, believed that the problem of housing rental mismatch should be managed by focusing on coordinated urban planning and multi-channel, multi-principal and multi-level supply of rental housing. Ms. Xu Zaoxia, CIREA Vice President and founder and CEO of Anxin, considered that housing rental enterprises should practise the concept of sustainable development, constantly improve the efficiency of energy consumption control and risk prevention, provide a low-carbon and healthy living environment, and turn the housing rental project into an infrastructure, making housing rental an important role and force in urban governance. Ms. Liu Jia, CIREA Vice President and CEO of Cubic City Service Apartment Group Holdings Limited, shared typical cases of converting old dormitories of boiler factories, unused hotels and industrial parks into housing rental projects to help urban renewal. Mr. Chen Zhan, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Hubei Housing Security Construction Management Co., Ltd., thought that the logic of high-quality development of housing rental should be “people-oriented”, and the quality of rental housing should be continuously upgraded with the needs of the public as the starting point. Ms. Yang Bin, Vice Secretary General of Shanghai Real Estate Appraisers Association, shared Shanghai’s guidelines on rent assessment for subsidized rental housing and dispute handling mechanism, arguing that real estate appraisal can play an important role in stabilizing rents, protecting people’s livelihoods, promoting management, and storing data. CIREA Vice President and Shanghai Jiao Tong University professor Chen Jie believed that the continuous development of subsidized rental housing should pay more attention to stock utilization, social forces, and building new community models in large cities according to local conditions.
The Symposium is also being attended by administrative representatives of local housing rental organizations, representatives from housing rental enterprises, specialists and experts from university institutes, and government officials from Shanghai, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.