Housing’s
　　great leap
　　　　　forward 　住房大跃进

　　翻译：tang.hong

　　IN THIS autumn’s hit film in China, “The Sigh”, about a love triangle, a lot of action revolves around apartments and their decoration. Home-buying these days is the engrossing topic among young professionals in Beijing and Shanghai. In the Beijing branch of Ikea, a Swedish chain of home-furnishing stores, the aisles are clogged with shopping carts. All normal stuff in many parts of the world, but a new development in China. 　　今年秋天，一部关于婚外恋题材的影片《一声叹息》在中国引起了轰动，片中的许多情节都是围绕着住宅楼及其布局装潢展开的。近来，购房成了北京和上海的年轻专业人员最关注的话题。在瑞典房屋装潢器材连锁店Ikea的北京分公司，过道上被购物车阻塞得水泄不通。这些材料在世界的很多地方都司空见惯，但在中国还是一个新鲜事物。

　　Until recently, nearly everyone in the cities—whether working in a factory or a government office—was provided with shoddy accommodation by the state through an employee’s “work unit”. During the 1990s, it is true, a market for private homes developed on the back of a building boom. But the villas and compounds that proliferated in the major cities were opulent, far too expensive for ordinary people. Many of these developments stand empty today. Cheaper housing is now available, from two sources. 　　直到最近，几乎城镇的每一个人——不论是在工厂上班的还是在政府机关工作——都在享受通过员工“工作单位”实行的国家廉价住房政策。毋庸质疑，在九十年代，随着建筑业的繁荣，私房市场已经建立了起来。但是在主要的几个大城市遍地开花的豪宅别墅对普通大众而言显得过于昂贵。这些别墅中有许多至今仍然闲置着。因而从这两方面讲，便宜居屋适逢其时。

　　In 1998, China made changes in its housing policy that were designed, in the long run, to absolve the state of the cost of providing its people with shelter. Starting this year, work units are not meant to buy new flats. Instead, they must give employees money for housing, which for many raises their incomes by half. The employee can buy the work-unit flat he is already living in, at a heavy discount. The work unit is out of pocket, but at least it has shed its responsibility for those crumbling blocks. 　　1998年，中国在住房政策方面有了不少变化，这些政策从长远利益出发，规定国家不再负担为人们提供居所的费用。从今年开始，单位不再购买新的公房。取而代之的是，他们必须给员工发放购房款，对于大多数人来说，这将使他们的收入提高一半。雇员可以购买他现在已经居住着的公房，享受优厚的折扣。单位受到了一些损失，但是它至少已经卸掉了对于这些摇摇欲坠的高楼的责任。

　　A lot of new apartments are also being built, largely for private buyers. In the first five months of this year, sales of residential housing were up 40% on a year earlier. Private buyers bought 88% of the homes, compared with about 50% five years ago. In Shanghai, China’s most sophisticated city, 10% of households owned their own homes three years ago; now the figure is about 25%. 　　许多新的公寓楼也正在兴建之中，它们当中的很大一部分将会由私人购房者买下。在今年的头五个月里，住宅销售额比去年同期上涨了40%。 个人买房比例占到88%， 而在五年前只有大约50%。 在中国现代化程度最高的城市上海，三年前只有10% 的家庭拥有他们自己的住房；现在这一数字增长到25%。

　　Mortgage lending, another new development, is driving much of this activity. The government has eased restrictions on lending over the past couple of years. The volume of home mortgages provided by the state’s commercial banks jumped by 145% in 1999 and looks set at least to double this year. The total amount of mortgage lending is still tiny: just 2% of all bank loans, compared with 35% in Hong Kong. But to China’s beleaguered bankers this kind of lending looks a safer proposition than lending to state enterprises or even private companies. The proportion is sure to rise. 　　另一个新的发展动向抵押贷款，正在多数购房活动中扮演重要角色。在过去的几年内政府已放宽了对抵押贷款的限制。由国家商业银行提供房屋抵押贷款数量在1999年跃增145%，预计今年至少要翻番。然而抵押贷款的整个量依然很小：只占到整个银行的贷款总量2%，而在香港这一比例高达35%。 但是对于中国面临重重困绕的银行家来说这项政策要比借钱给国有企业甚至私营企业要安全得多。这一比例确实还要上升。

　　Spending on housing has knock-on effects beyond the building and banking industries. Decoration and furnishing boosts retail spending, which is now showing signs of revival. And the development of a private market in housing will help labour mobility. In the past, many Chinese could not contemplate changing jobs because they risked losing their free housing. 　　花钱买住房的推动效应不仅仅表现在建筑业和银行业。装饰和家居设施的零售猛增，现在它们显示出了复苏的迹象。同时，开发个人买卖房屋的市场也有助于劳动力的流动。在过去，许多中国人因为害怕失去免费住房而不敢考虑变换工作。

　　It is not fanciful to suppose that housing could drive domestic demand in China for years. However, only three-dozen or so cities have drawn up plans for housing reform. In many places loss-making state firms and local governments may not be able to afford to provide employees with housing cash. Some used all their money to buy new housing for their staff before the new regulations took effect this year. In most cities, workers who buy their homes from their work unit may not sell for five years, and when they do they must share any profit with the unit. This suppresses a secondary market. 　　看来中国在未来几年里靠居屋消费拉动内需并不值得惊讶。然而，仅有大约三十六个城市制定出了房改规划。在许多地方，亏损的国有企业和当地政府还不足以支付员工购房的资金。今年在新的规定生效之前，有的企业使用他们全部的资金来为员工购买住房。在大多数的城市，购买本单位住房的员工在五年内不得出售其住房，并且，一旦他们出售住房，他们必须将所得利润与单位共同分享。这对房屋二级市场起了压制作用。

　　Shanghai is more enlightened, allowing former work-unit homes to be sold on without restriction. There, says Michelle Qi at Jardine Fleming, a financial group, nine-tenths of the proceeds from the sales typically goes towards the purchase of a bigger flat. The market, in other words, is doing what you would expect. Existing home-owners upgrade. New entrants come in. Nobody loses. 　　上海在这一方面更加开放，允许出售以前的单位住房而不加任何限制。怡富基金的祁迈克（音译）说，很显然，卖房所得款项中的九成是用来购买更大住房的。换言之，市场正在朝着你所期望的方面发展。已经拥有住房的人要升级换代，新移民要购房居住。没有人会失去什么。