Source: e-Company
Author: Mei Shuang

Real estate markets in many places were revitalized after new policies such as “recognize a house, don't pay a loan,” and Shanghai, which is one of the trendsetters in the national property market, is of course no exception.

After various favorable policies were introduced, descriptions such as “a surge in listings” and “hot sales” were also not uncommon on the Internet, stirring up the hearts of buyers. What is the real market situation? The reporter visited intermediaries in Shanghai and learned that the activity of the Shanghai property market has increased markedly over the past week, the volume of second-hand housing transactions has increased dramatically, and the transaction cycle has also been drastically shortened. Overall, however, the transaction price is relatively stable, and the buyer and seller game is still ongoing. Some customers choose to continue holding coins and wait and see after being “excited.”

The transaction cycle has been drastically shortened

“At my busiest, I visited more than 30 groups of customers in three days.” Zhao Xu, a real estate consultant in the Lianyang area of Shanghai, told reporters that after the “buy a house, don't pay a loan” policy, all the intermediaries in the store became busy, and the number of tasks to bring visitors doubled compared to normal. On weekdays, only one employee is left on duty in the store. The rest are all watching, or communicating with customers on phone or WeChat.

In addition to the surge in listings and buzz, Zhao Xu was also able to clearly feel the changes in transactions. “According to our internal statistics, about 30 houses have been sold in this area in the past week.” This figure is the usual monthly amount. “Several listings that have been backlogged for several months have recently been sold.” According to statistics from the past few months, the average transaction cycle is about 200 days, but now the transaction cycle has been drastically shortened.

The transaction statistics sent to the reporter by Zhao Xu showed that from September 1 to 11, the store sold a total of 25 houses. Among them, there was no shortage of houses with a transaction period of one week, and 2 houses were sold in just 1 day after listing. “This 33.8 million yuan house was sold for a day. There were quite a few people watching the house. The final transaction price was 33 million yuan.” According to him.

“Recently, transactions in the entire Lianyang region have been very active. Basically, a few houses are being sold every day.” Some intermediaries told reporters that the “buy a house, buy one unit” policy has had a big impact on improved customer replacement. In recent transactions, customers who “sell one unit, buy one set” account for a relatively high proportion.

Buyers and sellers continue to play

As to how long this wave of market conditions will last, there has always been a game between buyers and sellers. “When the policy was first introduced, some sellers immediately adjusted their prices, but there are also those who want to take advantage of the present to make a quick move.” People from large housing enterprises in East China said that at present, some owners sell their homes for a reason, such as replacement or monetization. Basically, these sellers who have a reason to sell rarely see price increases; they also want to take advantage of market conditions to sell quickly, so as long as the price is in line with psychological expectations, they will sign a contract directly.

Furthermore, the reporter also noticed that some buyers are also holding coins and watching. In terms of transaction prices, statistics sent to reporters by a real estate consultant show that the average bargaining rate for a residential area in Pudong, Shanghai has remained around 5% in the past week, and transaction prices have generally been stable.

In fact, before the New Deal injected certainty into the market, second-hand housing in Shanghai had already seen the phenomenon of building a foothold and stabilized.

According to monitoring data from the Zhuge Data Research Center, Shanghai sold 13,471 second-hand housing units in August this year, up 10.17% from the previous month; down 29.16% from the previous year, and the year-on-year decline was about 9 percentage points narrower than the previous month. Judging from cumulative transactions, Shanghai sold 120,780 second-hand housing units in the first 8 months of 2023, an increase of 27.66% over the same period last year.

Industry insiders believe that the market has reached the bottom, compounded by the impact of the “buy a house, don't pay a loan” policy, and there will be signs of recovery. “Favorable policies are compounded by a recovery trend. This year's gold, nine, and silver ten should be a good trading season.” Some industry sources told reporters that market sentiment has increased markedly recently, and demand for improved demand has been released at an accelerated pace. It is expected that second-hand housing transactions in Shanghai will likely continue to rise next month.

The number of new house watchers has increased dramatically

Recently, the eighth batch of new housing supplies in Shanghai entered the market this year. What is the impact of the new property market policy on the new housing market? According to CCTV financial reports, on September 9, a new property located in the Songjiang district of Shanghai welcomed quite a bit of traffic on the first day of opening. House watchers said that the introduction of the New Deal has boosted their enthusiasm for “building something new,” and has also expanded their range of choices.

Furthermore, developers from within and outside of Shanghai's Outer Ring Road and several properties near the Inner Ring Road have also said that the number of visitors and their willingness to buy a home from buyers with immediate and improved needs have all increased to varying degrees. The reduction in the down payment threshold for home purchases and the reduction in mortgage interest rates are the most important stimulus factors.

“We believe that the policy has had positive results and that the good market development trend will continue in the future. The policy of approving a home and not applying for a loan directly reduces the down payment cost for a home purchase, greatly lowers the threshold for entering the market, and enhances the ability to buy a home. As a result, the willingness to look at houses has increased, and the frequency of transactions has also increased. Intuitively, such as sales offices, I really feel that the market is picking up.” $E-HOUSE ENT (02048.HK)$Yan Yuejin, research director of the Institute, told reporters.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to “accepting a house without applying for a loan,” Shanghai also introduced two property market policy adjustments on September 7.

The first is to implement a housing fund support policy for old housing renovation projects included in the scope of urban renewal in Shanghai. It mainly includes three aspects: one is to support the withdrawal of housing provident funds after the purchase, renewal and renovation; the second is to support the withdrawal of housing rental provident funds during the construction period of the project; and the third is to expand the scope of applicants to be withdrawn.

Second, the Lingang New Area of the Free Trade Zone will adjust the personnel working period requirements of key support units. For talents working in key support units, the length of work required has been shortened from 6 months or more to 3 months or more.

Yan Yuejin believes that “stable volume and price increases and positive expectations” are important characteristics of gold, nine, nine, and silver. At the same time, this wave of market conditions will continue, fully demonstrating the positive implementation of various housing purchase policies and showing results. Overall, market sentiment is also on a positive and optimistic side.

editor/tolk