中国房地产市场的发展【外文翻译】.doc

本科毕业设计（论文）外 文 翻 译原文：Development of China’s Real Estate MarketOver the past two decades, real estate has evolved from government controlled to a commercial product, emerging and developing into an important component of China’s financial markets. Although the overall gross domestic product (GDP) and income levels have been growing rapidly, the even-faster rising housing costs have exacerbated the problem of housing affordability. Real estate development has become a key factor in China’s economic growth, as real estate has become an essential part of the overall functioning of the economy. Recent signs following the global financial crisis suggest that China’s real estate market has bottomed and may be on its way to a rebound. In the long run, this market offers lucrative investment opportunities for domestic and foreign investors.The government owned, controlled, and managed all real estate in China under a socialist central-planning system until 1988, when reform in this sector started (Fung, Huang, Liu, and Shen 2006). Since then, a market-based real estate industry has gradually developed, related legislation was enacted, and various types of real estate services have emerged. During this period, real estate in China has changed from a public to a commercial product. Although the state remains the owner of land in name, the rights of land use and land improvements are now commonly privately owned. The privatization effort has driven the growth of the real estate industry, and has made it possible for many modern business practices to be introduced into China.In recent years, China’s real estate market has demonstrated increasing integration with real estate markets in other parts of the world, with almost synchronous ebbs and flows. This gave rise to imbalances between supply and demand, increasing real estate price volatility. In addition, the Chinese economy has been growing at one of the fastest rates in the world, leading to rising disposable income levels.The increase in housing prices have actually outpaced income growth, thereby exacerbating the affordability problem. A comparison between the inland area and the more affluent coastal area finds that the latter’s housing affordability problem has been more severe.Nevertheless, since 1997, the heavy investment in the real estate sector has provided an important impetus for overall economic growth, by stimulating the demand for many other industries, including machinery, steel, electronics, chemical products, and architecture. This is especially important for the economy of a country like China, where savings rates are high and consumption share in the GDP is relatively low.Another important development in recent years is the real estate market’s increasing integration with its counterparts in other countries. For instance, the real estate bubble between early 2003 and late 2007 and the ensuing rapid cool-off coincided with many other markets. The global financial crisis exacerbated the decline, giving rise to a host of problems including widespread mortgage loan defaults, negative net worth families, and aborted construction projects. This global integration both poses serious challenges and brings opportunities to domestic and foreign investors.Challenges Although China’s real estate market is still in a relatively early stage of development in comparison to the United States and other developed markets, China’s real estate boom between 1998 and 2007 was one of the biggest in the world. During this period, the average annual growth rate for real estate investment was 22.1 percent, more than double the average GDP growth rate of 9.4 percent. In particular, theaverage annual growth between 2000 and 2007 exceeded 20 percent, and surpassed 30 percent every year between 2003 and 2007 (Pan 2009). However, beginning in the second half of 2007, China’s real estate market took a big tumble, resulting in substantial losses for real estate investors.The recent cyclical changes in the real estate market and the global financial crisis exemplify the inherent risk in real estate investments. However, much like the Chinese word “crisis,” composed of the signs for “danger” and “opportunity,”challenges and opportunities go hand-in-hand.OpportunitiesDue to the special features of its political decision-making system, the Chinese government has quickly formulated and put into effect numerous policies and regulations to address the sharp decline in the real estate market.“China is unusual in that it has this incredible capacity to mobilize all its institutions,” said Vikram Nehru, the World Bank’s chief economist for Asia (Batson 2009). Because the downturn that began in the second half of 2007 caused many economic and social problems, many policies and regulations favorable to real estate market participants were enacted by both the central and local governments and took effect in 2008.These included reducing mortgage interest rates, 。