can housing be "exchanged for new ones in other places"? many places have increased the "old for new" strategy, and some local governments have directly "taken action" to purchase
2024-09-06
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china business news (reporter wang tongxu)on september 5, chongqing municipal housing and urban-rural development committee issued a notice to support the housing "old for new" policy and adjust the housing purchase subsidy policy. the subsidy for each newly purchased house shall not be less than 0.5% of the total house price, and each district is encouraged to increase the subsidy.
experts said that chongqing’s new policy is just a microcosm of various regions optimizing real estate transaction policies and leveraging housing demand under the goal of promoting the digestion of existing commercial housing.
recently, many places have stepped up their efforts in the "old for new" housing program, further encouraging residents to actively participate in the "old for new" program by optimizing mortgage interest rates, increasing subsidies, and reducing taxes and fees.
real money support in many places
the housing "old for new" policy refers to the encouragement and assistance by government-designated agencies or real estate companies to residents who already have homes to sell their old homes for new ones through purchase, agency sales (assistance in selling), subsidies, etc.
on august 23, xiamen city launched an “old for new” campaign for commercial housing, which is tentatively scheduled to last for one year.
among them, people who change houses can enjoy a series of preferential policies, including: subsidies for old house transaction agency fees, the current best personal housing loan interest rate in the market, support for major consumption such as renovation loans, reduction of property service fees, and free home purchase gift packages.
huai'an city, jiangsu province has previously made it clear that it will provide housing subsidies of 100% of the stamp duty paid on the purchase of new homes to owners who "trade in old homes".
beijing has also made it clear that it will organize housing "old for new" activities. it will guide industry associations to build a platform for developers, brokerage agencies, and home buyers to connect with each other, encourage developers and brokerage agencies to provide high-quality services, implement preferential measures, and support home buyers to "trade old for new".
in addition, in some places, the government has directly "stepped in" to start acquisitions. for example, lin'an district of hangzhou city issued an announcement that it would acquire a batch of commercial housing within the lin'an district for use as public rental housing. dali, yunnan province also made it clear that it encourages the acquisition of existing housing as affordable rental housing or talent housing, and counties and cities with a sales cycle of more than 24 months will no longer build new affordable rental housing.
yuan shuai, executive vice president of the agricultural, cultural and tourism industry revitalization research institute, told china business news that the "old for new" policy for housing in many places is one of the important measures for the current real estate market regulation, which can activate market demand, promote market inventory reduction and promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. in the future, with the in-depth implementation of the policy and the continuous changes in the market environment, the "old for new" policy is expected to play a more positive role and inject new vitality into the real estate market.
new tricks for "trading old for new"
in terms of promoting the policy measures of "trading old for new" in housing, some regions have also introduced innovative policy support measures. in wuxi city, jiangsu province, housing can even be "traded for new" in other places.
on august 9, version 3.0 of the “old for new” commercial housing program in liangxi district, wuxi was released. the scope of the “old for new” commercial housing program undertaken by wuxi liangxi urban development group co., ltd. has been gradually expanded to include the acquisition of existing second-hand commercial housing in suzhou and changzhou.
yan yuejin, deputy director of the shanghai e-house real estate research institute, said in an interview with reporters that this policy is the most innovative policy among more than 100 cities in the country.
"in the future, homeowners in suzhou and changzhou can exchange their second-hand homes in those cities for new homes in wuxi. this will also help homeowners in these areas optimize their properties in different areas. especially for buyers who want to settle down in wuxi, participating in this kind of 'old for new' program will have a positive effect." yan yuejin said.
in addition, nanjing city, taicang city in jiangsu province, west coast new area of qingdao city in shandong province, cangnan county in wenzhou city in zhejiang province and other places have stipulated that during the implementation of the "old for new" housing replacement process, the admission qualifications of the old house to the school district where the old house is located can be retained. the time limit is basically two or three years, which solves the worries of parents about their children's school district issues when changing houses.
positive results have already emerged
recently, chengdu’s housing “old for new” campaign has been intensified, adding a second batch of new housing projects and brokerage agencies.
the chengdu real estate brokerage association said that the chengdu housing "old for new" campaign has received a warm response. after the launch of the campaign, the number of customer visits from projects with more than 1,000 people registered increased significantly, and the listing and transaction volume of second-hand houses increased. as of september 3, 110 new housing projects and 64 real estate brokerage agencies have joined.
in april this year, wuxi city launched two batches of commercial housing "old for new" projects, which stipulated that the purchased houses must be in the same city. in the first batch, more than 40 people completed the transaction. as of the end of july, more than 2,000 groups of related consultations, more than 600 groups completed the "old for new" registration, and more than 140 groups finally completed the transaction.
also in april this year, zhengzhou officially launched the housing "old for new" program. according to the information released by the zhengzhou housing security and real estate administration bureau, in the three months since the launch of the housing "old for new" program, the people who want to replace their houses have signed second-hand housing purchase agreements with chengfa company for 3,927 units, 1,180 commercial houses have been subscribed, and the people have completed the "old for new" program through market-based transactions for 1,628 units.
"driven by favorable policies such as 'old for new', a series of positive changes have occurred in our city's real estate market. the number of visits to developers' sales offices has increased by about 30%, the number of second-hand housing viewings has increased by about 40%, and the sales volume of commercial housing in april, may and june has continued to increase month-on-month, effectively boosting market confidence and stabilizing market expectations." zhao kai, secretary of the party committee and director of the zhengzhou housing security bureau, said at the "2024 zhengzhou commercial housing group buying activity launch ceremony and special housing exhibition" held recently.
challenges and problems remain to be solved
experts believe that although the housing "old for new" policy has achieved certain results, it still faces some challenges. for example, the biggest challenge for the "sell on behalf of others and buy new" model is how to "replace the old" within the agreed period.
yan yuejin said that the survey found that many cities have set a lock-in period for new houses in the "old for new" policy, that is, if the owner who signed a subscription contract with the new house developer does not sell the second-hand house within the lock-in period, he can unconditionally get back the new house subscription money. however, the current listing volume of second-hand houses is at a high level. in such a market, the floor, apartment type, and school district are particularly important. the reality is that even through the intermediary priority sales model, some old houses are difficult to sell unless they are sold at a "bargain price."
"in some cities, the lock-in period set for the 'old for new' policy is too short. some third- and fourth-tier cities have reported that the lock-in period agreed upon by developers participating in the 'old for new' policy is 60 days, but in reality it is difficult to sell second-hand houses within 60 days," said yan yuejin.
in the future, there is still room for improvement in the “old for new” policy.
yan yuejin believes that in some places, the underlying logic or source contradiction of the "old for new" housing policy has not been completely resolved, that is, the issue of who will ultimately absorb the second-hand houses.
"the market capacity for state-owned enterprises to acquire second-hand houses is relatively limited. starting from the source, all regions must continue to solve the problem of second-hand housing digestion and expand the market capacity of 'old for new', including using such second-hand houses as affordable housing sources and tapping into the diversified needs of renting and purchasing second-hand houses," said yan yuejin.
chen wenjing, director of market research at china index academy, believes that the current supporting policies for "trading old for new" are more about supporting owners of old houses. when old houses enter the second-hand housing market, new buyers are needed to buy them so that the chain of "trading old for new" can be smoother. therefore, future policies can also provide certain policy support for buyers of old houses, such as providing housing subsidies and agency fee discounts to buyers who purchase old houses through "trading old for new". in addition, expanding the intensity and scope of local state-owned enterprises' collection of old houses for new ones is also expected to further open up the chain of "trading old for new" and better play the role of the "trading old for new" policy in driving the market.
