Three government departments have jointly issued a notice to push for the orderly implementation of commercial housing presales, ensuring buyers get what they see and receive property certificates upon delivery.
On the real estate credit front, the central bank and the financial regulator have released new guidelines establishing a lead bank system for development loans and extending the maximum term of individual housing loans from 30 years to 40 years.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh stated that U.S. inflation remains too high, and the central bank should focus primarily on prices. This prompted a rise in U.S. Treasury yields, a stronger dollar, a sharp decline in precious metals, and downward pressure on U.S. equities.
On August 28, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) convened a national investment work promotion meeting with relevant departments to discuss key tasks and intensify efforts to stabilize investment. The meeting emphasized increasing the pace of supervision and scheduling for major national projects and central budget investments, accelerating the issuance and use of local government special bonds, promptly deploying new policy-based financial instrument funds, strictly enforcing fund supervision, and ensuring timely payments. It also called for accelerating the implementation of major projects under the 15th Five-Year Plan to quickly generate tangible work output.
Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued a notice on improving the commercial housing sales system, directing local governments to steadily advance reforms in the sales system and accelerate the creation of a new real estate development model. The notice requires local authorities to standardize the conditions for presales, strengthen supervision of presale funds, ensure the safety of these funds, effectively prevent delivery risks, and protect buyers' legal rights. For projects sold under the presale system, individual buildings must have their main structure topped out. Projects that had already obtained construction permits before the notice takes effect will continue to follow existing policies for presale conditions and fund supervision. Local governments are also urged to promote the sale of completed homes in a robust and orderly manner, allowing buyers to see what they get and reducing delivery disputes. Additionally, policies related to land supply and financial support for such projects should be improved, along with management of development, sales, and property registration, with a push toward issuing certificates upon delivery.
On August 28, the People's Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly released guidelines to reform and improve real estate credit management, aiming to accelerate the creation of a new real estate development model. The guidelines focus on optimizing two core systems: development loans and individual housing loans. For development loans, a lead bank system is established, where each real estate project corresponds to one lead bank, which either independently or jointly with a syndicate issues the loan. The loan term should match the project's construction and sales cycle, covering the entire process from start to completion and filing, with a maximum of five years for presale projects, seven years for completed home sales, and seven years for commercial real estate projects. For individual housing loans, the maximum term is extended to no more than 40 years.
The National Financial Regulatory Administration also released five draft management measures on August 28, covering commercial housing development loans, individual housing loans, commercial real estate loans, urban renewal project loans, and trust company real estate business. These measures aim to fully implement the requirements of the new real estate development model, guiding banking institutions to provide financial services based on market-oriented and legal principles, achieving full-cycle financial support for the real estate sector.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued opinions on supporting the construction of a new real estate development model through the capital market, proposing twelve measures in four areas, including supporting reasonable financing for real estate developers and preventing risks in the capital market related to real estate. The measures call for equal treatment of all developers regardless of ownership type and emphasize supervision of market access, information disclosure, and funds in the real estate sector to promote high-quality development.
To deepen fiscal and tax system reforms and establish a legal framework for local surtaxes, the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration have drafted the "Local Surtax Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comments)" and began soliciting public opinions from August 28. The draft generally follows the principle of transferring existing tax items, merging the current urban maintenance and construction tax, education surcharge, and local education surcharge into a single local surtax. The tax elements remain largely stable, with a rate range of 11% to 13%, keeping the overall tax burden essentially unchanged.
The NDRC and the Ministry of Transport have jointly issued an implementation plan for logistics network construction. The plan aims to achieve significant results in logistics network development by 2030, effectively linking hubs with industry, connecting channels and networks both domestically and internationally, making facilities and equipment green and smart, and ensuring rules and information are fully interoperable. This is expected to reduce overall logistics costs for society, lowering the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP to 13.1%, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points from the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, better supporting the real economy and ensuring smooth national economic circulation and high-quality development.
Li Chao, Deputy Director of the NDRC's Policy Research Office and spokesperson, noted that in the first half of this year, national coal-fired power generation totaled 2.5 trillion kWh, accounting for 49.7% of total electricity generation, dropping below 50% for the first time in history. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, coal-fired power will remain an important support for ensuring a stable power supply and promoting renewable energy consumption. The NDRC will work with relevant parties to control coal power capacity and generation, following the principles of increasing capacity, controlling output, and promoting transformation, pushing coal power toward a supporting and regulating role.
The NDRC announced on August 28 that, based on changes in international oil prices, domestic gasoline and diesel prices will be raised by 375 yuan and 360 yuan per ton, respectively, starting from 24:00 on August 28.
The Securities Association of China and the Asset Management Association of China jointly issued trial management rules for securities companies' trading system access on August 28, effective immediately. The rules clarify that securities companies must conduct system access in compliance with laws and regulations, provide access services prudently, treat all clients fairly, and avoid providing differentiated technical or business resources to specific access clients.
Hu Jianbo, Director of the National Data Development Research Institute, stated at the opening of the 2026 China International Big Data Industry Expo on August 28 that, as of the end of 2025, the number of data enterprises nationwide reached 482,000, a year-on-year increase of 17.9%. The data industry in the eastern region reached a scale of 5.23 trillion yuan, with continued vitality and increasingly prominent clustering effects.
China Shipbuilding announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, together with China Shipbuilding Trading, signed a contract on August 28 with COSCO Asset Management or its designated entity for 12 21,700 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships, with a total contract value of 2.688 billion U.S. dollars.
ChangXin Memory Technologies released its semi-annual report for 2026, with revenue surging 873.64% year-on-year to 150.31 billion yuan, and net profit turning positive at 77.61 billion yuan. The company stated that the global DRAM supply shortage is expected to continue into the second half of 2026.
ICBC reported a 9.1% year-on-year increase in revenue for the first half of 2026, reaching 465.86 billion yuan, with net profit attributable to shareholders up 3.3% to 173.68 billion yuan. The bank plans a cash dividend of 1.511 yuan per 10 shares, totaling 53.85 billion yuan.
China Construction Bank posted revenue of 436.53 billion yuan for the first half of 2026, up 10.72% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders up 4.62% to 169.56 billion yuan. It plans to distribute a cash dividend of 52.58 billion yuan, or 2.01 yuan per 10 shares.
Agricultural Bank of China saw revenue rise 11.1% year-on-year to 410.87 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, with net profit attributable to shareholders up 4.9% to 146.38 billion yuan. The bank plans to pay an interim dividend of 1.297 yuan per 10 shares, totaling 45.39 billion yuan.
Bank of China reported revenue of 356.90 billion yuan for the first half of 2026, up 8.48% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders up 5.10% to 123.59 billion yuan. It plans a cash dividend of 1.190 yuan per 10 shares, totaling 38.34 billion yuan.
Postal Savings Bank of China posted revenue of 192.48 billion yuan for the first half of 2026, up 7.26% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders up 4.62% to 51.50 billion yuan. It plans a dividend of 1.330 yuan per 10 shares, with a total cash dividend of approximately 15.97 billion yuan. The record date for both A-shares and H-shares is expected to be December 10, 2026.
Bank of Communications reported revenue of 142.34 billion yuan for the first half of 2026, up 6.73% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders up 4.04% to 47.87 billion yuan. It plans a cash dividend of 0.168 yuan per share, totaling 14.85 billion yuan.
Meituan announced that its second-quarter 2026 revenue reached 104.64 billion yuan, up 14.4% year-on-year. Profit for the period surged 490.0% to 2.16 billion yuan, with adjusted net profit up 69.0% to 2.52 billion yuan.
Snowsky Salt is planning to acquire control of Hebei KunTian New Energy Co., Ltd., with its shares suspended from trading from August 31, expected to last no more than 10 trading days. The target company focuses on the research, development, production, and sales of artificial graphite products for lithium-ion batteries.
Shengyi Electronics plans to invest in a high-speed interconnect circuit board manufacturing project, "XinSuan ZhiLian," at its wholly-owned subsidiary Ji'an Shengyi's existing plant, with a total planned investment of approximately 2.26 billion yuan.
Haixing Electronics plans to raise no more than 2.1 billion yuan through a private placement to fund projects for high-performance low-voltage electrode foils for vehicles and boards, high-performance high-voltage electrode foils for AI computing power supplies, a research and development center, and working capital.
Zhongjian Technology plans to establish a project entity in Yongkang City to invest in a smart robotics industrialization project, with a total expected investment of 1.2 billion yuan.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said on August 28 that U.S. inflation remains too high, price data is concerning, and the Fed should now focus mainly on prices, while the overall economy appears to be strengthening.
Following Warsh's hawkish remarks, the U.S. Treasury market saw a sharp sell-off, with yields on the policy-sensitive two-year note hitting a one-month high. Interest rate futures indicated that the probability of a rate hike in September surged from around 35% to about 60%. Precious metals suffered a broad decline, with COMEX gold futures down 3.43% to $4,504.10 per ounce and COMEX silver futures down 4.48% to $67.09 per ounce. U.S. equities also fell, with all three major indexes reversing gains to losses. Chip stocks tumbled, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closing down over 3%.
Mining officials from Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru held a ministerial meeting in Santiago, Chile, on August 28 and signed a joint declaration calling for enhanced regional cooperation to promote sustainable development of critical minerals, technology exchange, and investment, aiming to strengthen the region's position in the global critical minerals supply chain.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on social media on August 28 that the United States has reached an agreement with Venezuela to gain "majority control" over more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's proven oil reserves.
Bloomberg reported on August 27, citing sources, that Venezuela is considering leaving the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The report said that leaving OPEC has been a topic of discussion between Venezuelan and U.S. officials, but no final decision has been made.
EDF announced on August 27 that the Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France was forced to shut down or reduce power output at some reactors due to a massive influx of jellyfish.
The Norwegian royal court issued a statement on August 28 saying that King Harald V passed away that day at the age of 89. Crown Prince Haakon has succeeded him.
Final data released by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies on August 28 showed that the French GDP did not grow in the second quarter of this year, lower than the previously estimated 0.2% growth. First-quarter growth was also revised from a 0.1% decline to a 0.2% decline.
The Argentine government's latest data shows that the country's daily oil production exceeded 916,000 barrels in July, up 17.2% year-on-year, setting a new record.
Canada's preliminary GDP estimate for July pointed to flat growth, with the previous month's figure revised up from 0.2% to 0.3%. Growth in real estate, leasing, and professional and technical services offset declines in retail trade and manufacturing.
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