According to incomplete statistics, more than 70 cities across the country have launched commercial housing "trade-in". The reporter recently visited the real estate market in Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, Nanjing and other places and learned that the "old-for-new" commercial housing in various places mainly adopts three modes: state-owned enterprise acquisition, market linkage and tax subsidy. With the acceleration of the package of policies in various places, the first batch of cases to realize "trade-in" are landing, consumers’ response is better than expected, and the transaction activity in the second-hand housing and new housing markets has improved.
Acquisition of state-owned enterprises:
Both consultation and intention registration exceeded expectations.
Reporters in Zhengzhou, Nanjing and other places learned that the public’s response to the acquisition of old houses by state-owned enterprises was better than expected. Old houses will be used for leasing after the acquisition of state-owned assets, and some will also be included in affordable rental housing, which has become a way for the government to raise affordable rental housing.
Zhengzhou began to implement the "old-for-new" policy on April 20, and completed the pilot project of purchasing old houses by state-owned enterprises on May 10, and entered the stage of comprehensive roll-out. It is planned to complete 5,000 sets throughout the year; Nanjing launched the "trade-in" of state-owned enterprises on April 27th, with the first batch of 2,000 pilots.
"After signing up for the’ trade-in’, a third-party evaluation agency will evaluate it in less than 10 days." Liu, a citizen of Zhengzhou, said. Data released by Zhengzhou Chengfa Anju Co., Ltd. and Nanjing Anju Construction Group Co., Ltd., which are responsible for the acquisition of old houses, show that both consultation and intention registration exceeded expectations.
There is a strong willingness to participate in the "trade-in", but many citizens have also expressed their concern about whether the housing value evaluation is fair.
In response to this concern, Nanjing randomly selects three evaluation institutions with good credit and strong business, and takes the evaluation value in the middle of the ranking as the final purchase price of the existing housing. "The public can decide whether to accept the next transaction according to the estimated price." Wang Huhao, deputy general manager of Nanjing Anju Construction Group Co., Ltd. said.
What is the second-hand house used for? Nanjing plans to use the acquired second-hand houses as rental housing and lease them out; Old houses reclaimed by state-owned enterprises in Taicang, Jiangsu Province are used for affordable rental housing and talent apartments.
Where does the acquisition fund come from? Jiangsu Taicang state-owned enterprises cooperated with banks to build a "fund pool" with a total scale of 2 billion yuan; At present, a number of banks in Zhengzhou, including ICBC and CCB, have expressed their support for the financing of state-owned enterprises to acquire old houses.
Ye Qi, president of Zhengzhou Housing and Real Estate Association, believes that the state-owned acquisition model is suitable for cities with a growing permanent population, and there are also certain requirements for the operational capacity of the state-owned platform.
Market linkage:
The deposit can be refunded to solve the worries of the public.
The reporter learned that in the past, the advance payment for buying a new house was a deposit. If the party who paid the deposit defaulted, it could not be recovered. This time, the market linkage model represented by Shenzhen has changed the non-refundable deposit into a refundable deposit, which has a positive effect on improving the release of demand.
In May, 2024, Baishizhou, a real estate with "trade-in" in Shenzhen, ushered in an actual transaction case.
After learning that the deposit of the "trade-in" new house can be refunded, Mr. Liu contacted Leyoujia, an intermediary agency, and paid a deposit of 110 square meters for a three-bedroom house in Baishizhou with a total price of more than 10 million yuan. Two weeks later, his 54-square-meter old house in Nanshan was sold through Leyoujia, and the transaction price was about 4 million yuan, which was enough to pay the down payment for the new house.
Shenzhen "trade-in" encourages real estate development enterprises and intermediaries to sign agreements involving "termination protection period" with buyers who plan to sell second-hand commercial housing and buy new commercial housing. If the old house is not sold within the agreed time limit, the development enterprise and the house-changer will terminate the agreement according to the agreement without unconditional refund.
According to the data of Shenzhen Real Estate Agency Association, as of May 24th, the number of participating development projects has increased from the first batch of 13 to 63, and the number of participating real estate brokerage brands has increased from the first batch of 21 to 34, covering more than 1,200 brokerage agencies in the city. Consumers consulted a total of 15,144 people, of which 2,604 people were guided, and 61 sets of new house deposit agreements were signed through activities.
"The key is whether the old house can be sold." Li Yujia, chief researcher of the Housing Policy Research Center of Guangdong Urban Planning Institute, said that whether the "old-for-new" can be replaced is directly related to the profit-making efforts of the housechangers and the improvement of residents’ employment and income expectations.
Tax subsidy:
Housechanging people save transaction costs
In April this year, Chen Libin, a citizen of Taicang, Jiangsu Province, saved nearly 100,000 yuan in taxes and fees by "exchanging old houses for new ones".
Chen Libin’s old house is 129 square meters, and the appraised price is 2.83 million yuan. The newly purchased house is a 143-square-meter apartment of Taicang Dingsheng Hua Ting Project, with a total price of about 3.62 million yuan. The difference between the old house and the new house is 790,000 yuan, all of which are mortgage loans, without paying agency fees, and the deed tax of the new house is 1.5% free, which saves nearly 100,000 yuan in taxes and fees.
The reporter learned from the Housing and Construction Bureau of Taicang City that this year, Taicang City implemented deed tax subsidies for selling old houses and buying new ones, and sold its own houses from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, and purchased new commercial houses within 3 months, 3 to 6 months and 6 to 12 months after the sale, giving 100%, 80% and 50% of the new house deed tax payment share respectively.
By the end of April, 2024, 235 sets of new houses had been sold in Taicang, Jiangsu Province, and the sales volume of new houses was about 802 million yuan. 271 sets of stock houses were replaced, and the purchase amount was about 424 million yuan.
Shenzhen Housing Provident Fund Management Center provides the citizens with free supervision services for inter-bank "transfer with mortgage" of second-hand houses, which helps to solve the problems of high capital cost, difficulty in raising loan repayment funds and long transaction cycle of selling houses in the process of housing transactions.
In addition to government subsidies to reduce taxes and fees, real estate development enterprises and intermediaries have also introduced exclusive preferential schemes such as purchase price and commission. Take Shenzhen as an example. At present, the commission points of owners of second-hand housing transactions are generally 1.2% to 1.5%. Le Youjia said that the exclusive discount of 7-20% commission for Shenzhen "trade-in" owners will be determined according to different housing targets.
The reporter learned that all localities are still adjusting and improving the "trade-in" policy according to the feedback from the citizens. The industry believes that "trade-in" can promote the destocking of commercial housing market and accelerate the supply of affordable housing. The role of various policies that are constantly being superimposed will continue to emerge.
From: Xinhua News Agency
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