For all of Beijing’s actions to keep apartments affordable – higher interest rates, tightened lending and taxes and restrictions from Shanghai to Guangzhou – it does not really want prices to fall. Anyone wondering why should consider Hong Kong stock number 230: Minmetals Land (MML). This midsized developer is a perfect illustration of the deep conflicts in China’s housing policy.

　　雖然中國(guó)政府采取了種種措施——比如提高利率，收緊貸款和稅收政策，以及從上海到廣州的諸多城市出臺(tái)限購(gòu)令——希望讓老百姓買(mǎi)得起房，但政府并非真的希望房?jī)r(jià)下跌。所有對(duì)此不明所以的人，都應(yīng)該琢磨一下香港證交所股票代碼為230的公司——五礦建設(shè)有限公司(MML)。這家中等規(guī)模的地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)商堪稱(chēng)中國(guó)房地產(chǎn)政策深層次沖突的絕佳寫(xiě)照。

　　Eight years ago MML was trading (badly) as ONFEM Holdings, specialising in curtain walls and window frames. It then became a subsidiary of the state-owned China Minmetals Corporation (MMC), the country’s largest trader of base metals. Since then, thanks to regular infusions of assets and capital from its unlisted parent, it has built a property portfolio across the Pearl and Yangtze River Deltas, and in the Bohai Rim. That MML is not terribly good at development – it seems to take longer than many privately owned peers to convert assets to cash – is irrelevant. The point is that MMC, along with at least a third of China’s centrally-administered state-owned enterprises, has direct and material interests in real estate.

　　8年前，五礦建設(shè)有限公司名為東方有色集團(tuán)有限公司（ONFEM Holdings），專(zhuān)業(yè)生產(chǎn)幕墻和窗框產(chǎn)品，當(dāng)時(shí)股價(jià)表現(xiàn)不佳。后來(lái)，它成為中國(guó)最大的賤金屬交易商、國(guó)有中國(guó)五礦集團(tuán)公司(MMC)的子公司。從那時(shí)起，由于經(jīng)常獲得非上市母公司的資產(chǎn)與資本注入，五礦建設(shè)在整個(gè)珠三角、長(zhǎng)三角地區(qū)和環(huán)渤海地區(qū)建立起了房地產(chǎn)投資組合。五礦建設(shè)并不特別擅長(zhǎng)地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)——在將資產(chǎn)轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)金方面，它花費(fèi)的時(shí)間似乎比許多私有房地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)商都要多——不過(guò)這沒(méi)有關(guān)系。問(wèn)題的關(guān)鍵是，五礦集團(tuán)（以及至少三分之一的中國(guó)央企）在房地產(chǎn)行業(yè)有著直接和重大的利益。

　　It is well known that China’s millions of amateur property speculators want prices to stay strong. With corporate bonds and overseas stocks off-limits, and a one-year bank deposit now paying almost three percentage points less than the rate of inflation, property is the only available asset class with a fighting chance of delivering positive real returns. But China Inc, too, is long property. It is thus little wonder that the latest data show investment in real estate development rising by 32.9 per cent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2010, while commercial and residential property sales were up 24.1 percent. Reforms to keep the sector from overheating still further are, and will remain, halfhearted.

　　眾所周知，中國(guó)數(shù)百萬(wàn)業(yè)余炒房者希望房?jī)r(jià)保持堅(jiān)挺。由于無(wú)法涉足公司債券和海外股票，而1年期銀行存款利率比通脹率低將近3個(gè)百分點(diǎn)，地產(chǎn)是國(guó)內(nèi)唯一有望實(shí)現(xiàn)實(shí)際正收益的資產(chǎn)類(lèi)別。而“中國(guó)公司”(China Inc)也在做多地產(chǎn)。難怪最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，今年上半年房地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)投資比去年同期增長(zhǎng)了32.9%，而商業(yè)地產(chǎn)和住宅地產(chǎn)銷(xiāo)售額則上升了24.1%。因此，目前中國(guó)防止房地產(chǎn)行業(yè)進(jìn)一步過(guò)熱的改革有些三心二意，將來(lái)也仍將如此。