楼市低迷 中国地方党报号召买房

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.

近年来，一些经济学家中流传着这样一个笑话：中国政府根本不是一个政府，而是全球最大的房地产开发商。毕竟，没有土地出让收入，中国地方财政很可能崩溃，像成百上千个雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)那样。

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.

把中国政府比作卖房子的开发商，这种调侃却在本周得到印证。中国东部一个城市的地方党报在头版刊登了一篇文章，呼吁大家在中国最出名的“鬼城”之一买房。

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

《常州日报》周二发表的这篇文章题目是“我市目前已到购房好时机”。

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.'

文章说，常州市楼市虽然出现调整，但房价下降空间不大，目前已到购房好时机。

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.

古城常州与上海一样都位于富庶的长三角地区，拥有470万人口。这里有困境中苦苦挣扎的光伏产业，有一座恐龙主题公园，还有当地特产萝卜干。但在经历了若干年由房价上涨推动的高速发展后，这座城市更为人熟知的可能是它所反映出来的“鬼城”现象。

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年房地产炙手可热的时候，像常州这种楼市过度膨胀的三、四线城市还有几十个。和这些城市一样，常州也对自身有宏大的愿景。除了专门划出一片区域用于修建高端房地产外，常州还开始修建地铁线路，希望转型成一个先进材料和高科技产品制造基地。但随着房地产市场开始降温，加之上海对富裕阶层更有吸引力，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.

《常州日报》称，今年上半年，常州居民住宅均价为每平方米人民币6,796元（约合1,095美元），同比下降5.8%。该报援引常州房产管理局最新数据称，今年上半年常州商品住房销售备案面积为251万平方米，同比减少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.'

尽管住房销售数据黯淡，但该报极力描绘出一个乐观的前景。该报称走访多位业内人士，他们均表示，常州房价已无下降空间。

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

该报称，近期是购房的好时机。

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.

在一个卖地收入占地方可支配财政收入大头的国家，一个城市希望不遗余力提振市场是可以理解的。但常州试图舆论救市的露骨做法仍受到了互联网用户以及媒体同行的批评，包括共产党的喉舌《人民日报》。

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.

人民网刊登的一篇文章批评《常州日报》的文章是变相救市。

'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.

人民网记者还了解到，《常州日报》这篇文章的两名作者分别是常州日报社记者和常州市住房保障和房产管理局宣教处处长。

'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.

人民网发表的文章称，《常州日报》作为地方政府党报，竟然在头版头条发文号召市民买房，称是最佳买房时机，这种救市之举实属没有节操的行为。

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

换句话说，现在还不是强行推销的时候。