MNI China Press Digest Dec 31: Housing, E-CNY, Foreign Assets

MNI (BEIJING) - Highlights from Chinese press reports on Wednesday:

• Beijing’s move to reduce the value-added tax on homes sold by individuals who have owned them for less than two years will help release pent-up demand for upgrades, 21st Century Business Herald reported citing analysts. The tax rate will be lowered to 3% from the current 5%, or be exempted with more than two years of ownership, taking effect from January 1, 2026. The new policy will also help ease deep price cuts by property sellers due to the high transaction costs, analysts said, noting that CNY40,000 can be saved when selling a CNY2 million house.
• China's banks will be required to pay interest on e-CNY held in digital wallets from January 1, 2026, in a move aimed at increasing public and market adoption of the digital currency, Yicai.com reported. Classified as M0 or physical currency in circulation, the digital yuan earned no interest previously, while the new policy will transform it into a deposit‑like instrument. By the end of November, it had been used in a total of 3.5 billion transactions worth more than CNY16.7 trillion, the newspaper said.
• China’s banking sector held net foreign assets of USD371.6 billion by the end of September, data released Tuesday by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed. The sector has USD1.81 trillion in foreign financial assets and USD1.44 trillion in foreign liabilities. Of these, net liabilities in yuan amounted to USD224.9 billion, while net assets in foreign currencies amounted to USD596.5 billion. (Source: CNR Finance)