The Lujiazui area of Shanghai is home to major global financial organizations. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In a guideline document on the country's economic and social development in the next five years and beyond, the top authorities said China will promote balanced development between the financial and real estate sectors and the real economy.

Some believe the wording heralds spring for the real estate sector, while others say the authorities are putting more emphasis on "balanced development".

The authorities are actually pointing at the key to addressing China's structural imbalance problem, clarifying the relations between the financial and real estate sectors and the real economy, and laying out a development plan for the financial and real estate sectors. In doing so, one notices that any industry's development cannot be delinked from the real economy.

When imbalances exist between the financial sector and the real economy, it is difficult to finance the real economy and a large amount of funds remain within the system for self-circulation or seek profits through arbitrage finance.

Imbalances also exist between the financial and real estate sectors. With the authorities resolved that "houses are for living in, not for speculation", the country's real estate regulation has gradually shifted from temporary to long-term measures, but imbalances between the financial and real estate sectors still exist. On the one hand, the side effects of large capital inflows into the real estate sector in the past years are far from being eliminated, and the excessively high debt ratio of some real estate enterprises has fueled financial risks. On the other hand, tightened mortgage policies has made it difficult for those with real housing needs to get loans.

The real economy is also plagued by its own imbalances. Although policymakers are seeking to balance the mismatch between supply and demand, whether the current production capacity system can meet people's diversified and high-quality demands continues to pose a problem for decision-makers as people's livelihoods improve.

The financial sector should not become a virtual sector. And by listing real estate alongside the real economy it is clear that the authorities are aware of its financial attributes.

It is predictable that the real estate sector's development depends on whether it can promote a new type of urbanization and accelerate the circulation of rural collective land use rather than being a means to a speculation.