Mini Program: Daily Real Estate Industry News Summary.
Xiong'an New Area awarded contracts to 5 indemnificatory rental housing projects.
Zhao Fengdong, member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Administrative Committee of Xiong'an New Area, awarded the licenses for five guaranteed rental housing projects, including the Xiong'an Business Service Center Apartment No. 2 Project, Huawangcheng's self-owned and leased housing No. 1 project, Jinhuyulai's institutional rental housing No. 1 project, Jinhuyulai's Apartment No. 1 project, and Xiong'an Innovation Research Institute Science Park Apartment project. It is reported that the first batch of 1,359 government-owned and rented houses in Xiong'an New Area will soon be put into operation. The government-owned and rented houses of the start-up area are distributed in Huaxufu, China Communications, and CCCC Merchant Park 1872 Project.
In July, the rental housing market in Guangzhou continued to be prosperous, with a 7.56% increase in transaction volume compared to the previous month.
In July, the residential rental market in Guangzhou continued to be prosperous due to the peak rental season after graduation, with a strong demand for new additions. The transaction volume at monitored points in the city increased by 7.56% compared to the previous month. The monitored residential rent in Guangzhou was 54.72 yuan per square meter per month, a 0.31% increase compared to the previous month. In the central area, it was 61.63 yuan per square meter per month, in the near suburbs it was 39.06 yuan per square meter per month, and in the outer suburbs it was 18.69 yuan per square meter per month. The rent for elevator buildings in monitored points in Guangzhou increased by 0.27% to 61.99 yuan per square meter per month, while the rent for non-elevator buildings increased by 0.36% to 47.44 yuan per square meter per month. According to the China Index 50 City Residential Rental Price Index, in July, the average residential rent in 50 cities nationwide was 36.3 yuan per square meter per month, a 0.02% increase compared to the previous month, and a 1.77% decrease compared to the same period last year. (Guangzhou Real Estate Agents Association)
Zero down payment for home purchases resurfaces, with multiple local governments issuing warnings about the risks.
Recently, the "zero down payment" option has resurfaced in the housing market. On various social media platforms, real estate agents in multiple cities have posted messages in the voice of home buyers, such as "Zero down payment for my first home" and "Zero down payment saved my life," to attract attention. In recent days, multiple local governments have issued warning notices, cautioning home buyers to take a rational view of the "zero down payment" policy, and to make housing purchase decisions based on their own circumstances. Taking Zhengzhou as an example, on August 5th, the Housing Guarantee and Real Estate Administration Bureau of Zhengzhou, Henan Province issued a warning about the risks of home purchases, advising buyers to remain calm in the face of temptations such as "zero down payment," down payment financing, installment payments, and indirect down payment financing, and to make housing purchase decisions based on their own circumstances. Prior to this, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Nanning, Guangxi, also publicly stated that zero down payment for home purchases involves various risks and uncertainties, and is not a sustainable way to purchase homes.
Poly Developments: Acquisitions of existing homes have been conducted in Zhengzhou, Jinhua, and other places.
Poly Developments management team stated at the Poly Developments 2024 semi-annual performance briefing that the company actively responds to national policies, comprehensively sorts out existing resources, and actively communicates with local governments on policies and plans for the implementation of stock land regulation, replacement, and acquisition of existing houses. Adhering to market-oriented and rule of law principles, the company has already achieved the acquisition of existing houses in Zhengzhou, Jinhua, and other places. In the second half of the year, the company will continue to adhere to the operation strategy of destocking and adjusting the structure, and maintain steady operation. (Securities Times)
Fujian Quanzhou: Purchasing new residential, indemnificatory housing, and second-hand housing can withdraw individual and family housing provident fund for down payment.
Recently, the Housing Provident Fund Management Committee of Quanzhou, Fujian Province issued the "Notice on Optimizing Some Policies for the Use of Housing Provident Fund," which stipulates that from August 12, 2024, the city will implement new regulations on six housing provident fund policies to further support the rigid and improving housing purchasing demand of depositing employees and optimize the business environment. The document proposes to relax the access conditions for housing provident fund loans. Employees who have continuously and fully deposited housing provident fund for 6 months can apply for housing provident fund loans. Those who purchase new residential buildings, indemnificatory housing, and second-hand housing within the administrative area of Quanzhou City can withdraw their housing provident fund to pay for the down payment. This further reduces the financial pressure on employees to pay for the down payment. (The Paper)
6. "Purchase instead of construction, and replacement of old with new": Many places acquire and store commercial housing for indemnificatory housing.
Since May, various places have successively introduced new policies in the real estate market, including reducing down payment requirements, canceling the lower limit of mortgage interest rates, and lowering housing provident fund loan interest rates, etc. Recently, in addition to the existing policies, many cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen have started to acquire commercial housing for indemnificatory housing through government public solicitations or local state-owned enterprises. Acquiring and storing commercial housing for indemnificatory housing is also known as "purchase instead of construction." As of August, more than 60 cities nationwide have introduced local government or state-owned enterprise policies to acquire and store existing residential properties for indemnificatory housing. Recently, Shenzhen, Beihai, Dalian, and other places have successively issued policies to acquire and store existing commercial housing for indemnificatory housing. It is worth noting that, according to the policies of various places, commercial housing units below 70 square meters have become the main force for acquisition and storage. (CCTV News)
7. Harbin City plans to introduce management measures for the allocation of indemnificatory housing.
Recently, the Harbin Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau released the "Management Measures for the Allocation of Indemnificatory Housing in Harbin (Draft for Solicitation of Opinions)" on its official website, soliciting opinions and suggestions from the public. According to the "Draft for Solicitation of Opinions," the allocation management of indemnificatory housing follows the principles of government leadership, market participation, openness and transparency, closed management, and honest credit. Establish and improve the archives of indemnificatory housing and beneficiaries, and incorporate the allocation management of indemnificatory housing into the national unified platform for housing provident fund information. The average price of indemnificatory housing converted from existing stock housing will be reasonably determined by the construction unit of stock housing based on housing costs and surrounding housing prices. In addition, based on the principles of ensuring basic needs, the construction area of newly built indemnificatory housing should be controlled between 70-110 square meters. The construction area of talent housing can be appropriately relaxed. For converted indemnificatory housing, based on the existing housing resources, the construction area of a single unit should not exceed 120 square meters in principle. (Harbin Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau)
8. Rong360 Research Institute: Deposit interest rates have declined across the board in July, while the three- and five-year interest rates are still "inverted."
With the interest rate cut in July, a new round of deposit rate decline has been initiated. According to data monitored by Rong360 Digital Technology Research Institute, as the combination of interest rate reductions takes effect, the space for deposit interest rate reduction is opened, and the reduction is relatively large. The average interest rate data of bank's fixed-term deposits monitored by Rong360 Digital Technology Research Institute shows that in July 2024, the average interest rate for a three-month fixed-term deposit is 1.481%, the average interest rate for a six-month fixed-term deposit is 1.689%, the average interest rate for a one-year fixed-term deposit is 1.817%, the average interest rate for a two-year fixed-term deposit is 1.94%, the average interest rate for a three-year fixed-term deposit is 2.339%, and the average interest rate for a five-year fixed-term deposit is 2.295%. This report statistically monitors and analyzes the deposit interest rate data from 689 branches of 82 banks in 36 key cities nationwide.
9. Sino-Ocean Group plans to avoid liquidation by adopting the "UK restructuring plan" and may become the first real estate company to restructure in this way.
Recently, overseas creditors of Sino-Ocean Group (03377.HK) published a full-page advertisement opposing Sino-Ocean's restructuring plan in the Hong Kong Economic Daily. In order to avoid liquidation, Sino-Ocean Group is attempting to restructure through the "UK restructuring plan", which requires approval from 75% of the amount of creditors in a group. If Sino-Ocean Group can prove fairness and maximize the benefits, it is expected to obtain a court ruling to make the restructuring plan effective. There have already been successful cases in Asia, such as Hong Kong Aviation. Since the first cross-group binding case was introduced in 2021, the UK court has used its discretion to rule on restructuring cases several times. Currently, no real estate companies have used this method for restructuring, but there have been successful Asian cases such as Hong Kong Aviation, which used a combination of the UK restructuring plan and the Hong Kong agreement arrangement to complete debt restructuring. If Sino-Ocean Group's restructuring is successful, it will become the first real estate company to restructure in this way. (Pengpai)
10. Economic Daily: Promote the acquisition of existing housing for the purpose of indemnificatory apartments.
The article suggests that the acquisition of existing stock commodity housing can be used for both rental-based affordable housing and sales-based affordable housing. Local governments should accurately understand the demand, carefully assess the local demand for affordable housing and the situation of existing stock commodity housing, reasonably determine the commodity housing sources that can be used for affordable housing, and pre-lock the demand for affordable housing. Ensure that the acquired existing stock commodity housing is suitable in terms of unit size, price and location, and avoid blind acquisition. Especially for the housing sources purchased for sale-based affordable housing, we should strive to sell them at a reasonable price as soon as possible to prevent the formation of inventory for companies that acquire housing sources.
11. Five land parcels in Xihu District, Xiaoshan District, and Yuhang District of Hangzhou have been announced for planned transfer, with a total area of 21.73 hectares.
On August 21st, Hangzhou Municipality, Xiaoshan District, and Yuhang District announced the list of 5 residential land parcels to be transferred in 2024, with a total area of approximately 21.73 hectares and a buildable area of up to 0.502 million square meters. The land parcels for transfer are located in various areas such as Yungu in Xihu District and the Xiaoshan Economic Development Zone, with the planned transfer period ranging from November 19th to December 30th.