Efforts by China’s real estate industry to destock have already yielded early success, said Chen Zhenggao, head of the country’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) at a press conference on Feb 23.

Destocking is one of five major tasks for supply-side reform that were set during the Central Economic Work Conference. After discussing the goal with leaders from 23 provinces, the ministry decided to promote a new method of destocking, encouraging migrant workers to purchase properties in cities.

A survey showed that in some cities, houses purchased by farmers and migrant workers accounted for half of all properties sold in 2016. The figure was even as high as 70 percent in some counties. Chen praised Agricultural Bank of China for its special loan services for farmers; the bank offered mortgages to 500,000 rural households in 2016.

Chen emphasized at the press conference that real estate destocking is already starting to pay off. The total area of unsold houses in China decreased to 695 million square meters by the end of 2016, down from 718 million in 2015.