China is confident in the recovery of the real estate sector, said Ni Hong, minister of housing and urban-rural development, on the sidelines of the two sessions on Tuesday.

"In terms of market supply and demand, the fact that China has achieved a major and decisive victory in COVID-19 prevention and control is having a positive effect on the real estate sector," he said.

He noted that speaking of market expectations, since the beginning of this year, the sales of commercial housing ended 13 months of negative growth. The prices of both new and secondhand housing have been steady, and the delivery of housing projects was steadily advancing.

"Reasonable housing financing has been improved, raising the confidence of the main body of the market," he said.

Ni said that the supporting policies for first and second home purchases have been implemented and taken effect, and measures to prevent the speculative purchasing of properties are in place.

Specifically, Ni said that the recovery of the real estate market will be on the basis that housing is for living in, not for speculation. The measures support homebuyers' inelastic demand for housing, back the rising demand for upgraded housing, prevent market fluctuations and promote the high-quality development of the industry.

"To avoid financial risks and local debt risks, we will treat high-quality real estate enterprises equally, support high-quality State-owned and private real estate enterprises, help them improve their balance sheets and meet their reasonable financing needs. Meanwhile, we will focus on the real estate enterprises that have problems, help them save themselves and punish them strictly according to laws and regulations," Ni added.