Experts say that the reform of the housing provident fund will favor second-hand houses.

According to media reports, recently, many places have issued new policies on the housing provident fund system. By the end of 2024, the balance of the housing provident fund in China was 10,925.279 billion yuan. Song Hongwei, co-director of the Think Tank Research Institute, said that the role of the provident fund is more prominent at the current stage, playing an important role in reducing the cost for homebuyers. Currently, there have been significant changes in the stage of housing development. Now that we have entered the stock housing stage, part of the demand for home buying will shift to the second-hand housing market, and the renovation of old neighborhoods will become a key focus. As part of the housing security system, the provident fund should increase its support for existing housing in the future. Regarding the reform of the provident fund, Song Hongwei believes that it can be viewed from the following aspects: firstly, increasing the loan amount is an important direction; secondly, the current demand for replacement is becoming more and more evident. For example, Shanghai's policy of recognizing houses and not recognizing loans provides a good reference for other cities; in addition, the provident fund support in the future should be expanded to the second-hand housing market to adapt to the trend of the increasing proportion of second-hand housing transactions; furthermore, the interest rates of provident fund loans should be further optimized to ensure their advantages in second homes; finally, the future housing renovation and transformation will also need the support of provident fund policies.