news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Reporter of China Business Network: Zhen Sujing Editor of China Business Network: Chen Mengyu

"It was another slow and hot-selling Sunday, with revenue of 14 million yuan."

On the first Sunday after the policy of determining the number of housing units by district, county (city) was released, a project staff member of a listed real estate company in Changsha shared on a social platform.

However, in his opinion, the hot sales are not particularly related to the release of new policies. New policies will have an impact on the market, but this impact is similar to the effect of interest rate cuts. On the first Sunday after the policy was released, there was no obvious change in the number of visits to their project.

Changsha, known as a model student in real estate market regulation across the country, has once again optimized and adjusted its housing purchase policies.

Recently, Changsha Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing the Standards for Identifying the Number of Housing Units in Personal Housing Loans in Our City". The notice clearly states that if a household does not have a house in the district, county or city where it intends to purchase a new house, it can be identified as the first house and apply for a commercial personal housing loan; if the existing housing loan has been paid off within the Changsha metropolitan area, financial institutions are supported to determine the down payment ratio and interest rate on their own.

The policy will take effect from August 23, and home buyers (families) who have previously registered online will not be able to enjoy it.

Can each person buy 9 houses?

Some netizens commented that according to the latest policy, each person in Changsha can buy 9 houses (Note: Changsha has 9 districts and counties under its jurisdiction), all with a 15% down payment for the first house and an interest rate of 3.35%. Would you buy it?

CRE Real Estate Research Center gave an example analysis. A family has a house in Furong District but no house in Tianxin District. When purchasing a new house in Tianxin District, it can be recognized as the first home when applying for a commercial loan and enjoy the first home's down payment ratio and commercial loan interest rate.

According to Changsha Evening News, the relevant person in charge of Changsha Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau said that the optimization of housing purchase policies will help further release and meet the housing purchase needs of "trading old for new, small for big, far for near" and those who are willing to improve location, supporting facilities, education, quality, etc. It will effectively reduce the burden on home buyers, continuously stabilize the new home sales market, strengthen the linkage between the new and second-hand housing markets, and promote the stable and high-quality development of the real estate market.

The biggest highlight of the new policy is that the down payment and interest rate policy for the first home can be followed. According to the "Notice on Supporting Residents to Purchase Improved Housing" issued by the Changsha Housing and Construction Bureau in April this year, "the qualifications of home buyers will no longer be reviewed", resident families can purchase commercial housing in the city according to their own needs, and there is no specific requirement for the number of houses.

On the first weekend after the policy was released, several local real estate professionals in Changsha said in an interview with the China Business Network reporter that there were indeed some inquiries, but no obvious stimulating effect had been seen yet.

"If it is determined by districts and counties, there will be a certain promoting effect, but I'm afraid it will not be particularly obvious. The new policy may also aggravate the imbalance between districts and counties." A local real estate person in Changsha told the reporter of the Economic Daily that, for example, Changsha County and Wangcheng District, which used to attract people from other districts and counties to buy houses, may lose purchasing power after the new policy, and home buyers may cross districts to buy houses in other strong areas such as Yuelu, Kaifu, Tianxin and other areas.

Zhang Bo, director of 58 Anjuke Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business Network that Changsha is not the first city to use districts and counties as units to determine whether a property is the first home. Chengdu has also implemented a similar policy. The purpose of this policy is to lower the threshold for home purchases and ensure diversified improvement needs.

"The housing inspection has been narrowed from the entire city to only the district and county scope. For Changsha homebuyers, the coverage of first-time home purchases has been greatly expanded. The purchase demand that originally needed to be confirmed as a second home can now be identified as a first home. At present, many homebuying groups have diversified improvement needs, such as buying a retirement home for their parents or a vacation home. This policy itself is more conducive to meeting such needs."

However, according to Changsha Evening News, in the policy Q&A of Changsha Housing and Construction Bureau, if you buy a second-hand house, you cannot enjoy the policy of determining the number of housing units according to the district, county (city), and this policy applies to buyers (families) who buy newly built commercial housing. In addition, this policy only applies to commercial personal housing loans, and does not apply to newly built commercial housing purchased with provident fund loans.

According to statistics from China Index Academy, as of August 25, more than 20 cities across the country have identified the number of housing units by district, narrowing the scope of loan identification to the district where the purchase is made. Last year, Chongqing, Tianjin, and Kunming had already issued relevant policies to optimize the identification of commercial loan units by district. Since the beginning of this year, the scope of cities has been further expanded, and Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Changsha and other places can all identify the number of commercial loans by district. In addition, cities such as Suzhou and Mianyang have also implemented the identification of housing provident fund loans by district, further lowering the threshold for home buyers to buy houses.

The market is in a wait-and-see mood

The reason behind this district and county regulation is largely due to the cooling of Changsha's new home market and the pressure on sales.

After Changsha released new policies to relax the real estate market in April, new home transaction volume reached this year's peak in May. However, the policy stimulus was limited in time. In June and July, the market once again entered a year-on-year and month-on-month downward channel, entering the traditional off-season for the real estate market, and the market cooled significantly.

According to CRIC Hunan regional statistics, the market cooled down significantly in July, with both supply and demand falling month-on-month, and transaction volume falling by nearly 50% year-on-year. Prices fluctuated greatly month-on-month, with the average online signing price reaching this year's peak in June and falling to this year's bottom in July, with a month-on-month decline of 10%. This was mainly due to the downward trend in prices of villas, commercial and general residential properties, with the average price of commercial housing falling below 14,000 yuan per square meter. Entering August, the market was in a wait-and-see mood, with both supply and demand being relatively sluggish.

Zhang Bo said that judging from Changsha’s policy direction, the pace of policy relaxation in hot second-tier cities will be further accelerated.

CRIC Real Estate Research Center believes that Changsha's relaxation of housing purchase policies is aimed at stabilizing the new home sales market. At present, there is still a large gap between the down payment ratio and mortgage interest rate of the first and second homes in the city. By optimizing the housing loan policy by district, the threshold and cost of purchasing multiple homes in different districts will be greatly reduced, which is more conducive to the release of demand for improved housing.

Daily Economic News