Plans for Property Trusts Put on Ice

(Beijing) - After a long road riddled with twists and turns, the much anticipated launch of the Chinese version of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) has been suspended, Caixin learned from various sources.

"Research on the plan for REITs was halted around late September and early October," a finance official from a local government told Caixin. However, a source close to the central regulator said that plans to go through with a Chinese version of REITs still exists, but that significant work still needs to be done on reviewing implementation and regulation by high-level government agencies.

In early 2010, Tianjin and Shanghai submitted proposals to the central bank and asked the State Council to approve separate REITs plans tied to subsidized, low-income housing. Their plans coincide with a central government initiative to push forward subsidized housing construction and rising market expectations on the launch of REITs. However, no progress has yet been announced since then.