the municipality’s housing provident fund operation by and large was well maintained in the 2014 first half-year with stable growth of collection, withdrawal and paying employees. home loans declined in scale due to subdued housing transactions. fund operation remained safe.
1. accomplishments of various services indexes
hpf collection: collection of housing provident fund and additional provident fund in january-june totaled 34.246 billion yuan in this municipality, up 14.47% year on year , including 26.804 billion yuan of housing provident fund collection, accounting for 78% of the total collection, and 7.442 billion yuan of additional provident fund collection, accounting for 22% of the total collection. as of end of june, the cumulative collection of housing provident fund and additional provident fund amounted to 453.2 billion yuan.
hpf payment: as of end of june, the municipality’s housing provident fund paying units recorded 176,900, up 18.57%, namely, an increase of 27,700 from same period of last year. paying employees totaled 5.5804 million, up 10.97%, namely, an increase of 551,600 from same period of last year.
hpf withdrawal: housing provident fund withdrawal in january-june totaled 22.06 billion yuan, up 22.98% year on year, including 17.273 billion yuan of withdrawal due to housing consumption, up 22.33% year on year, and 4.787 billion yuan of account closure withdrawal due to causes such as retirement, up 25.38% year on year. as of end of june, the cumulative withdrawal of housing provident fund totaled 253.7 billion yuan, accounting for 56% of the cumulative collection.
hpf loans: the housing provident fund home loans issued in january-june recorded 25.976 billion yuan, down 22.18% year on year, supporting a total of 68,400 households, down 20.92% year on year. of the loans, 2.895 billion yuan of loans were issued to 10,029 joint-ownership security housing purchasing households. as of end of june, the balance of housing provident fund home loans registered 192.326 billion yuan, up 13.495 billion yuan from beginning of this year, with a cumulative 388.298 billion yuan of housing provident fund home loans issued to a total of 1.9024 million households in support of a total building area of 171 million square meters.
the january-june security housing projects oriented housing provident fund loans recorded 339 million yuan. as of end of june, the cumulative security housing projects oriented loans recorded 8.299 billion yuan, equivalent to 73.89% of the scheduled municipal security housing oriented provident fund loans endorsed by the central government. as of end of june, balance of projects oriented loans totaled 6.627 billion yuan.
risks of hpf loans: as of end of june, delinquency rate for housing provident fund home loans amount was 0.13‰
hpf value-added proceeds: january-june revenues for housing provident fund services totaled 4.682 billion yuan, and expenditure on services totaled 2.407 billion yuan. value-added proceeds realized were 2.275 billion yuan, up 20.69% year on year.
2. characteristics of housing provident fund operation in the first half-year
(1) the scale of hpf home loans edged down from its high level, and home loans issued for joint-ownership housing hit a record high
in the first half-year, this municipality’s commercial housing transaction volume indicated a dramatic month-on-month and year-on-year decline ascribed to commercial banks’ tightening grip on lending scale. consequently, housing provident fund home loans issued in the first half-year totaled 25.976 billion yuan, extending a downward slide for the fourth consecutive quarter ended june to 13.528 billion yuan, in comparison with the preceding three quarters’ issuance of 15.362 billion yuan, 12.714 billion yuan and 12.448 billion yuan. following chart shows monthly home loans issued in the last four quarters:
housing provident fund home loans issued has been sliding for four consecutive quarters, indicating a return to rationality in wake of extremely strong consumption during the 2013 first half-year in regard of the property market. the issuance of housing provident fund home loans in the first half-year embodies the following two characteristics:
one is the year-on-year record new high of housing provident fund home loans issued in support of the joint-ownership security housing, indicating an evident increase in the amount of loans for an average household. the security housing oriented housing provident fund home loans of the municipality was initiated in 2010 and jumped year by year. the security housing oriented housing provident fund home loans issued in the 2014 first half-year totaled 2.895 billion yuan, marking the highest level year on year since its inception. the average home loans per household increased from 230,000 yuan in 2010 to 290,000 yuan in the 2014 first half-year. as of end of june, the cumulative joint-ownership security housing oriented housing provident fund home loans issued totaled 9.061 billion yuan.
the other is the obvious decline in the combined loans processed. the percentage of the combined loans among the total volume of housing provident fund home loans indicates the commercial banks’ support coverage of housing provident fund home loans applications during a certain period of time. of the housing provident fund home loans processed in 2013, the percentages of the combined loans and the pure housing provident fund loans registered 56% and 44% respectively. in the first half-year, the combined loans processed edged down significantly in sync with the year-on-year substantial decrease in housing provident fund home loans processed, and the percentage of the combined loans and the pure housing provident fund loans recorded 51% and 49% respectively, showing a 5% decrease in the combined loans processed and a 5% increase in the pure housing provident fund loans processed. such decrease in the combined loans processed reflects the commercial banks’ further tightening on the scale of housing provident fund home loans since the beginning of this year.
(2) growth of paying units and employees continued in pace with ramp-up of newly opened accounts for non-state-owned units and micro- and small-enterprises
sustained rapid growth of the municipality’s housing provident fund paying units and employees in the first half-year indicates sustained expansion of shanghai housing provident fund system coverage. following is a chart illustrating growth of the first half-year’s paying units, paying employees and additional new employees during the last five years:
additional new paying units in first half-year posted a year-on-year record high at 23,000, featuring a faster pace of growth of privately-run businesses. additional new private businesses in first half-year recorded 19,357, up 9.36% year on year, namely, two percentage points higher than the average growth rate of the recent three years, maintaining good growth. of the first half-year’s additional new units, privately-run businesses accounted for 84%, the highest proportion, followed by foreign-funded enterprises’ 6%, namely, these two sectors added up to 90%. following is a pie chart illustrating percentages of various types of additional new paying units.
the other feature is that the micro- and small-enterprise sector has the highest proportion among additional new enterprises. further analysis of the additional new units indicated that micro- and small- enterprises having 10 or less employees accounted for 87% of the first half-year’s additional new units, in comparison with the percentage of those with 11-50 employees at 11%. sustained growth of the municipality’s housing provident fund paying units is mainly attributed to the fast increase in additional new micro- and small- paying units. following is a pie chart illustrating proportions of the 2014 first half-year’s additional new enterprises of various sizes:
(3) slowed growth of withdrawal due to repayment of home loans versus steady increase in low- and medium-income employees’ hpf withdrawal
the municipality’s housing provident fund withdrawal in the first half-year amounts to 22.06 billion yuan, up 22.98% year on year, tantamount to the average growth rate of the recent five years. analysis shows the first half-year’s housing provident fund withdrawal due to housing consumption embodies the following features:
one feature is slowed growth of housing provident fund withdrawal due to home loans repayment, ascribed to the decrease in additional new homebuyers’ loans in sync with the slide in home sales area in the municipality in the first half year. withdrawal due to home loans repayment totaled 15.25 billion yuan, up 22.72% year on year, down 9 percentage points from same period of last year’s 31.46%.
the other feature is the increase in the percentage of low- and medium-income employees’ housing provident fund withdrawal due to housing consumption. analysis of employees from various income levels withdrawing housing provident fund in recent three years shows that low- and medium-income employees withdrawing housing provident fund due to housing consumption in the first half year accounts for 66.51%, up about 4 percentage points from same period of 2013, and up about 8 percentage points from same period of 2012, versus the year by year gradual decrease in the percentage of high-income employees withdrawing housing provident fund.
following is a chart indicating percentages of employees from different income levels withdrawing housing provident fund in the first half years in 2012-2014.
the increase in the percentage of low- and medium-income employees withdrawing housing provident fund sheds light on the greater role of housing provident fund in support of low- and medium-income employees’ improvement-oriented housing consumption.
(4) sustained steady growth of housing provident fund value-added proceeds
housing provident fund services revenues of the first half year recorded 4.682 billion yuan, value-added proceeds amounted to 2.275 billion yuan, up 20.69% year on year, up 7 percentage points from same period of last year. such increase is mainly attributed to the steady growth of home loans interest income in sync with the rapid growth of home loans balance triggered by last year’s issued hpf home loans hitting a new record high versus stable mortgage rates, alongside with the year-on-year increase in project loans interest income ascribed to scaled-up project loans in support of security housing construction.
3. key issues to focus on recently
the third quarter is the key to housing provident fund management’s attainment of annual goals. the municipal pf center shall focus on the following based on the accomplishments of the fist half year:
(1) ramp up effort to expand payment coverage by leveraging the hpf payment base adjustment opportunity.
the third quarter coincides with the time for housing provident fund payment base adjustment, and also the peak season for job placement for starters. this year’s payment base adjustment shall adopt units’ online adjustment approach on a consolidated basis for the first time instead of the traditional adjustment review procedures mainly at respective service outlets. the municipal pf center has made adequate preparations and prudent arrangements for the online basis adjustment, and shall closely check the units’ numbers of paying employees by concentrating on the consistency between the number of provident fund paying employees and the number of social insurance paying employees, the consistency between basic provident fund basis and additional provident fund basis, and the consistency in the additional provident fund payment rate adopted by a unit for its employees, gearing up for further expansion of provident fund payment coverage alongside with the basis adjustment.
(2) orchestrate the centralized law enforcement inspection campaign
preliminary accomplishments have been made as a result of the municipality-wide provident fund payment compliance self inspection in the first half year. as per overall schedule, municipal pf center shall conduct centralized law enforcement inspection aiming at specific industries based on employee concerns in the next half year, supervise and monitor timely corrective actions of those units failing to register and open accounts or make housing provident fund payment for employees, and impose penalties accordingly on those units refusing to take remedial measures for compliance as necessary.
(3) launch 12329 sms platform for service upgrade
the 12329 sms platform is to be rolled out as another public service venue in wake of municipal pf center’s launch of spf hotline 12329. once the sms platform is available, municipal pf center shall be poised to provide post-payment provident fund account changes information service to paying employees free of charge, and concurrently provide featured services such as “sms on demand” to meet employee needs. currently, relevant departments have been carrying out intensive system tests and trials. a new provident fund service is expected to debut soon.
shanghai provident fund management center
july 2014
