樓市低迷 中國地方黨報號召買房

One joke that has made the rounds among some economists in recent years holds that the Chinese government is not a government at all, but in fact the world's biggest property developer. After all, were it not for revenues from land sales, local government budgets across the country would likely collapse like hundreds of little Lehman Brothers.

近年來，一些經濟學家中流傳着這樣一個笑話：中國政府根本不是一個政府，而是全球最大的房地產開發商。畢竟，沒有土地出讓收入，中國地方財政很可能崩潰，像成百上千個雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)那樣。

That notion of Beijing as a regime of real estate salesman was reinforced this week after the Communist Party's local flagship newspaper in an eastern Chinese city published a front-page article urging people to buy real estate in one of the country's best-known ghost towns.

把中國政府比作賣房子的開發商，這種調侃卻在本週得到印證。中國東部一個城市的地方黨報在頭版刊登了一篇文章，呼籲大家在中國最出名的“鬼城”之一買房。

'Good Opportunity to Buy Houses in Our City' proclaimed the headline emblazoned across the top of the Tuesday edition of the Changzhou Daily.

《常州日報》週二發表的這篇文章題目是“我市目前已到購房好時機”。

The 'article' below (in Chinese) argued that despite recent weakness in Changzhou's property market, there's limited downside for prices and it's 'a good time to purchase real estate.'

文章說，常州市樓市雖然出現調整，但房價下降空間不大，目前已到購房好時機。

An ancient city in the affluent Yangtze River Delta area that also includes Shanghai, Changzhou boasts a population of 4.7 million people, a struggling solar energy industry, a dinossaur theme park and a robust dried radish industry. But after years of high-octane development fed by rising property prices, the city is probably best known as an example of China's so-called 'ghost city' phenomenon.

古城常州與上海一樣都位於富庶的長三角地區，擁有470萬人口。這裏有困境中苦苦掙扎的光伏產業，有一座恐龍主題公園，還有當地特產蘿蔔乾。但在經歷了若干年由房價上漲推動的高速發展後，這座城市更爲人熟知的可能是它所反映出來的“鬼城”現象。

Like dozens of similar third- and fourth-tier cities that overbuilt when the property market was booming in 2009 and 2010, Changzhou had a grand vision for itself. It blocked out a section for higher-end housing and started building a subway in anticipation of transforming itself into a producer of advanced materials and high-tech goods. But with the market cooling and the more alluring lights of Shanghai beckoning the moneyed class, Changzhou's banks of luxury houses remain largely unoccupied.

在2009年和2010年房地產炙手可熱的時候，像常州這種樓市過度膨脹的三、四線城市還有幾十個。和這些城市一樣，常州也對自身有宏大的願景。除了專門劃出一片區域用於修建高端房地產外，常州還開始修建地鐵線路，希望轉型成一個先進材料和高科技產品製造基地。但隨着房地產市場開始降溫，加之上海對富裕階層更有吸引力，常州的豪宅大多空置。

The average price for private residential properties in Changzhou came in at 6,796 yuan ($1,095) per square meter in the first half of this year, down 5.8% from a year ago, according to the Changzhou Daily. Citing fresh figures from the city's housing bureau, the newspaper said that contracted sales for private residential properties totaled 2.51 million square meters in the first half of this year, down 11.3% from a year earlier.

《常州日報》稱，今年上半年，常州居民住宅均價爲每平方米人民幣6,796元（約合1,095美元），同比下降5.8%。該報援引常州房產管理局最新數據稱，今年上半年常州商品住房銷售備案面積爲251萬平方米，同比減少11.3%。

Despite those dark numbers, the newspaper insisted on painting a bright picture. Quoting mostly real estate executives, the paper said there's 'no downside for housing prices in our city.'

儘管住房銷售數據黯淡，但該報極力描繪出一個樂觀的前景。該報稱走訪多位業內人士，他們均表示，常州房價已無下降空間。

'It's time to buy properties,' it added.

該報稱，近期是購房的好時機。

In a country where land sales make up the primary source of disposable income for local governments, it makes sense that a city might want to do what it can to buoy the market. Still, Changzhou's thinly veiled attempt to talk up its sagging property sector drew harsh criticism from Internet users and rival media, including the Communist Party's national mouthpiece - the People's Daily.

在一個賣地收入佔地方可支配財政收入大頭的國家，一個城市希望不遺餘力提振市場是可以理解的。但常州試圖輿論救市的露骨做法仍受到了互聯網用戶以及媒體同行的批評，包括共產黨的喉舌《人民日報》。

In an article carried on its digital news portal (in Chinese), the party's flagship newspaper lashed out at Changzhou Daily's piece as an indirect approach to rescue the local housing market.

人民網刊登的一篇文章批評《常州日報》的文章是變相救市。

's article also identified the two authors of Changzhou Daily's story as a reporter from the paper and the head of the propaganda office of Changzhou's housing bureau, respectively.

人民網記者還了解到，《常州日報》這篇文章的兩名作者分別是常州日報社記者和常州市住房保障和房產管理局宣教處處長。

'As a local Party newspaper, Changzhou Daily even went so far as to urge the city's residents to buy houses on its front page, saying it was the best time to do so. This kind of market support measure betrays a lack of moral principle,' said the 's article.

人民網發表的文章稱，《常州日報》作爲地方政府黨報，竟然在頭版頭條發文號召市民買房，稱是最佳買房時機，這種救市之舉實屬沒有節操的行爲。

In other words: Now is not the time for the hard sell.

換句話說，現在還不是強行推銷的時候。