"Extraordinary" to stabilize the property market
China News Weekly reporter/Sun Xiaobo
Published in the 1050th issue of "China News Weekly" magazine in 2022.7.4
"The street office where my family is located has already issued a notice that the housing ticket resettlement policy will be implemented, and no resettlement housing will be given in the future." Li Siqi, a resident of Chengzhong Village, Erqi District, Zhengzhou, said that his community was in 1989. It has been demolished before, but the resettlement has not been completed. Many residents can only live in rented houses and wait for resettlement, so they are very concerned about the newly introduced house ticket policy.
On June 20, Zhengzhou issued the "Implementation Measures for House Reconstruction Projects in Zhengzhou City's Large Shanty Areas (Interim)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Measures"), becoming the first key city in the country to issue a systematic document on housing receipts this year.
According to the "Implementation Measures", the renovation of shanty towns in the central urban area of Zhengzhou, including Zhongyuan District, Erqi District, Jinshui District, Huiji District, Zhengdong New District, Economic Development Zone, and High-tech Zone, will implement house ticket resettlement, that is, with reference to currency However, the compensation to the expropriated people is not cash, but house tickets, which can be used to offset the purchase price when purchasing a house.
The area where Li Siqi's home is located is within the scope of the room ticket placement policy.
He told China News Weekly that the policy follows the principle of voluntariness, and it is not mandatory to use room tickets. If you don't want to choose room tickets, you can choose currency resettlement, but "choose room tickets can get rewards."
It is reported that in order to implement the new policy of house ticket resettlement and stimulate the enthusiasm of the relocated households (that is, the expropriated) to choose the house ticket resettlement, Zhengzhou has set up incentives and preferential policies - those who choose the house ticket resettlement, the expropriator will give the expropriated the right to resettlement compensation rights A reward of 8% of the amount, as a policy reward for house ticket placement, is included in the face value of the house ticket, and a 3-month transition fee will be rewarded in cash.
As one of the 22 real estate hotspot cities that have been named by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Zhengzhou has aroused widespread concern and heated discussions after the launch of the house ticket.
And this new policy in Zhengzhou is just a microcosm of the actions to boost the property market across the country.
"Room ticket" returns to the arena
In fact, before the official announcement of the "Implementation Measures", the use of house ticket resettlement in the renovation of shanty towns in Zhengzhou has already begun to be implemented.
According to "China News Weekly", Louhe Village, Mazhai Town, Erqi District, Zhengzhou posted a public announcement on June 17, and released an implementation plan for the resettlement of room tickets.
"Room ticket is a good thing for local relocated households." Chen Xiang, who is engaged in real estate sales in Zhengzhou, told China News Weekly, "In the past, we could only wait for the resettlement, but now we can choose room ticket or cash. And there are many preferential policies.”
The "Implementation Measures" clarifies a number of incentives and preferential policies. In addition to the aforementioned policy incentives and 3-month transition fee, the room ticket can be selected by the city's cooperative developers' projects, and the purchased house is not included in the family purchase limit If the number of units is purchased, you can enjoy tax reduction and exemption. You can go through the enrollment procedures for your children in the school district where the newly purchased house is located. If the purchase record or the purchase loan has been settled, you can also enjoy the first home loan interest rate, etc.
"If the resettlement houses obtained by the relocated households are usually small property rights (collective property rights), which are about 50% of the price of commercial housing in the market, and cannot be listed for trading, they can only be transferred within the village collective." Chen Xiang said, now Commodity housing can be selected through room ticket placement. "One has property rights, and the other has no property rights, it is not a concept."
However, compared with the previous compensation form for shantytown renovation, Zhengzhou's housing ticket placement has also raised different voices.
In view of the fact that the room ticket placement is similar to the form of vouchers, some netizens even dubbed it "white strip compensation".
A Zhengzhou citizen said, "In the past, demolition was either in kind or monetary compensation, but now a 'white strip compensation' has been made."
It is understood that many urban village demolition projects in Zhengzhou before 2016 have not yet been resettled.
Many of these relocated households are unwilling to choose house ticket resettlement. For example, the relocated households who are closer to the central city and have a better geographical location are more willing to choose to relocate.
A local demolition household who is waiting for resettlement said that the relocated house can be used for rent. If the house ticket is used to pay for the commercial house, it often means that the unit price of the new house bought is higher, "the area of the relocated house will definitely shrink, maybe You have to pay for it out of your own pocket, and if you buy it, you won’t have the money to renovate it.”
Li Siqi told "China News Weekly" that the situation of each family may be different. Some people are willing to choose room tickets, while others are more inclined to move back. As far as he is concerned, they are more willing to choose monetary compensation.
Song Xiangqing, deputy dean of the Institute of Government Management of Beijing Normal University and president of the Henan Provincial Business Economics Association, told China News Weekly that the housing ticket resettlement policy introduced by Zhengzhou is to activate the property market, stimulate consumption and stimulate domestic demand in the context of epidemic prevention and control. A very good measure, it also gives the common people more choices in buying houses.
In fact, this is not the first time that Zhengzhou has introduced a new property market bailout policy this year.
In March of this year, Zhengzhou began to loosen the restrictions on "recognizing houses and loans", and launched the "first shot" of property market policy adjustment, becoming the first key city to loosen "recognizing houses and loans" since the tightening of regulation in 2016.
Although Zhengzhou's new policy to stabilize the property market continues, the feedback from the market is limited.
According to data from the China Housing Association, in May, the transaction volume of new commercial housing in Zhengzhou was 426,000 square meters, down 16.5% month-on-month and 50.2% year-on-year. .
It has long been an open secret that Zhengzhou commercial housing is facing greater destocking pressure.
According to the annual report data of the Zhengzhou Branch of the Shell Research Institute, as of February 2022, among the residential inventory in the main urban area of Zhengzhou, there are 5 areas with high inventory, all of which have exceeded 18 months, of which Jinshui District has the highest, with 35.4 months of detoxification.
Data from the China Housing Association also shows that the narrow-sense inventory of commercial housing in Zhengzhou is 13.95 million square meters, and the de-storage cycle is as high as 34 months.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the price of new houses in 70 cities fell for the first time in more than six and a half years in May compared with the same period last year. Among them, the price index of new houses in second-tier cities rose by 0.3% year-on-year, and Zhengzhou fell by 2.5% year-on-year.
Since August 2021, both primary and secondary housing prices in Zhengzhou have fallen for 10 consecutive months.
In this context, the resettlement of housing tickets for shantytown renovation has been put on the agenda.
In fact, before this, the transformation of shanty towns in Zhengzhou had begun to adopt the policy of monetized resettlement.
House ticket placement is not the first of its kind in Zhengzhou.
As early as 2015, some cities introduced the housing ticket system in the demolition and resettlement of shanty towns.
At that time, the real estate market was also facing greater pressure to destock, among which, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, with high inventory, was the most representative.
In January 2016, the Dongsheng District of Ordos City launched the room ticket system. By the end of May of that year, Dongsheng District had digested 13,566 residential units and 1.84 million square meters, accounting for 40% of the residential inventory units and 30% of the total area. The effect of destocking obvious.
Li Yujia, chief researcher of the Guangdong Provincial Planning and Housing Policy Research Center, said that after the start of shantytown reform and destocking in 2015, the Ordos property market has gradually returned to the right track.
However, after 2018, with the forcible withdrawal of the shantytown reform monetization authority, the room ticket system temporarily withdrew from the stage of history.
A number of interviewed experts said that the room ticket system is conducive to the targeted destocking of the local property market and promotes the circulation efficiency of the real estate market, which is precisely the problem that the Zhengzhou property market needs to solve at present.
Yan Yuejin, research director of the Think Tank Center of the E-House Research Institute, told China News Weekly that if the house ticket promotion work is in place, the construction of resettlement houses can be reduced or cancelled, which objectively reduces the pressure on the government to directly build such houses.
"At the same time, it also ensures that such housing funds remain in the housing sector, which is also an important manifestation of ensuring the stability of the financial system and preventing the flow of housing funds to non-real estate sectors," he said.
An industry insider in Zhengzhou said that the key to whether the room ticket system is beneficial depends on the implementation, "The achievement of all this depends on the implementation of the policy, such as whether the room ticket price is reasonable, and whether the government has invested enough funds. Whether the incentives and discounts in all aspects are in place, and whether the payment speed of real estate companies can keep up.”
Many places have loosened purchase restrictions
It is worth noting that in addition to Zhengzhou, many places across the country have also restarted the room ticket system.
The shantytown reform housing ticket placement policy seems to be becoming one of the important measures to boost the property market in many places.
According to incomplete statistics from China News Weekly, since the beginning of this year, at least 20 cities across the country have begun to explore the implementation of housing ticket placement policies, including Xinyang, Xuchang, Wenzhou, Shaoxing, Changshu, Ezhou, Yibin, Jieshou and other places.
Some analysts pointed out that high inventory and great pressure to sell are the common characteristics of the property market in these cities.
In fact, since the beginning of this year, various localities have continued to introduce policies to boost the property market, from non-hot cities to hot cities, from provident fund policies to restrictions on purchases, loans, sales and other restrictive policies, and the scope and intensity have continued to increase. Since the beginning of this month, the actions to boost the property market have become more and more intensive.
Opening up purchase restrictions is one of the measures that are often adopted in various regions to stabilize the property market.
For example, Nanjing recently adjusted the property market purchase restriction policy again, allowing non-local residents to pay social security to buy houses.
Yu Yang, who is planning to settle in Nanjing, told China News Weekly that he moved from Beijing to Nanjing a few months ago. He originally planned to buy a house in Nanjing, but before that, Nanjing required two consecutive years of social security records to buy a house, and the threshold was too high. So only temporarily give up.
"Now that the purchase restriction has been lifted, it only takes 6 months to change the social security, and it can be paid back, even in the suburbs of the main urban area." Yu Yang said that he has rekindled the idea of buying a house.
Nanjing, one of the central cities in the Yangtze River Delta, has always been known for its "stable" property market in the past, but it has been moving frequently in recent times.
According to incomplete statistics from "China News Weekly", Nanjing has issued property market regulation policies more than a dozen times in the past two months since the beginning of April.
Hefei, Anhui has taken a bigger step, not only paying social security to buy a house, but also releasing a big move to allow companies to buy houses.
According to local media reports, on June 24, Hefei adjusted its purchase restriction policy, which included collective households registered in the urban area and household registrations of relatives and friends, who had the same purchase qualifications as urban households; , Social security tax is approved retrospectively and paid; legal persons and unincorporated organizations can purchase newly-built commercial housing and second-hand housing within the urban area.
In Yan Yuejin's view, Nanjing, Hefei and other real estate markets are not bad compared to similar cities.
He told China News Weekly that the above policy adjustment shows that even in hot cities, the real estate market is under pressure now.
In order to boost the property market, many cities are still making a fuss about the provident fund.
Reducing the down payment ratio and increasing the loan amount have become the choice of many cities.
On June 23, the new policy issued by Quanzhou, Fujian adjusted the down payment ratio of provident fund loans for the first home to no less than 20%, and for the purchase of a second home, the down payment ratio was adjusted to no less than 30%, and the second child or Three-child families can add 100,000 yuan to the maximum loan amount.
The provident fund "relay loan" implemented in Zhuhai, Guangdong has also attracted attention, which mentioned the implementation of "one-person house-buying and whole-family assistance".
That is to say, immediate family members can withdraw money from provident fund accounts to help each other make down payments or repay home loans.
Similar policies have been introduced in Shaoyang in Hunan Province, Chaozhou in Guangdong, Ziyang in Sichuan, Chuxiong in Yunnan, Ganzhou in Jiangxi, Cangzhou in Hebei, and Qinhuangdao.
In addition to "conventional" measures such as relaxing purchase restrictions, lowering the down payment ratio, lowering interest rates, and increasing the amount of the provident fund, all localities have tried their best to save the market. The promotion policy of "down payment for wheat", "down payment for garlic" and "down payment for watermelon" was launched.
"Extraordinary" way to save yourself
Since January this year, many properties in Yulin have successively received house viewing groups organized by local governments at all levels or functional agencies.
A number of real estate brokers in Yulin City told China News Weekly that since this year, they have indeed received many official-organized house viewing activities.
Yulin even used the big trick of buying a house and "sending a job".
According to the "Several Policies and Measures of Yulin City on Accelerating Population into the City" that has been issued, the local government is responsible for recommending more than 3 jobs to new citizens who have purchased houses and have not yet been employed, and the salary is not lower than the minimum wage in Yulin.
Now in Yulin, every district and county, down to every township, has been assigned the task of "pulling people into the city".
"Regardless of the number of houses purchased or the number of new permanent residents, there are clear tasks," Zhang Ming, who works in an agency in Yulin, told China News Weekly that almost all agencies and institutions have been assigned tasks.
"China News Weekly" also learned that Yulin authorities at all levels have also included "pulling people into the city" into the assessment, and there are specific quantitative indicators every year, and a reward and punishment mechanism has also been set up. , District) for performance deduction, until performance is reduced, etc.
Taking Bobai County as an example, the county holds a work progress meeting every week. At the work progress meeting on March 16, Bobai County interviewed the bottom three towns and departments that week. .
Coincidentally, Qingdao, Shandong will also promote residents to buy houses into the assessment.
Qingdao Xuejiadao Sub-district Office recently issued the "Notice on Promoting Residents to Buy Newly-built Commercial Housing" ("Notice" for short).
Some netizens ridiculed, "The end of the universe is Kao Gong, and the end of Kao Gong is to help developers sell houses".
The "Notice" also clearly stated the work objectives. By the end of June, each community will complete no less than 2 online signatures.
"If it is not completed, the community will be deducted points, and the community secretary may also be deducted money." A staff member of the street office said.
Changsha's new property market policy is also full of creativity.
In early May, Changsha introduced the "rent-for-purchase" policy. The properties under the name are used as rental housing and will not be counted in the number of family housing units. With this, you can bypass Changsha's current purchase restriction policy to buy commercial housing.
Similar policies also appeared in Chengdu, Sichuan.
On May 31, Chengdu launched a new policy of renting for "house tickets". Residents rent out their own houses to new citizens, young people and other groups, promising to abide by the policies and regulations related to affordable rental housing and not to list and trade within 5 years. Those managed by the rental housing management service platform can purchase another set of housing.
If the aforementioned "rescue strategies" are enough to break people's traditional cognition, then "replacement of garlic and barley" makes many people feel "irrational".
At the end of last month, the Jianye City real estate in Qixian County, Kaifeng City, Henan Province advertised "5 yuan/catties, garlic for house replacement". Buyers who sell garlic to designated buyers can offset part of the down payment, which can be deducted up to 10 yuan. million.
On June 20, Jianye Real Estate in Minquan County, Shangqiu, Henan also launched a promotion of "2 yuan/catties, wheat for house replacement", which can be deducted up to 160,000 yuan.
Although the above-mentioned promotional activities were urgently stopped by the developers due to the attention of public opinion, some analysts pointed out that although the publicity stunt of "barter" promotion is greater than the actual effect, the severe destocking challenges faced by the above-mentioned cities and developers can be seen. .
Before the impact of the epidemic on the overall economy slows, it is expected that more cities and housing companies will rescue themselves in "extraordinary" ways.
"Housing to live without speculation" is still the bottom line
According to incomplete statistics from Zhongtai Securities, from January to May this year, a total of 326 local relaxation policies were issued in 134 cities across the country.
Entering June, according to statistics from the Central Plains Real Estate Research Institute, as of the 20th, more than 80 cities have issued nearly 100 new property market policies in the month.
Hu Jinghui, former vice president of I Love My Family Group and chief economist of Jinghui Think Tank, told China News Weekly that due to the epidemic and many other factors, local governments are under great financial pressure. Larger difficulties and gaps may arise.
This is also considered to be the background and reason for actively trying to boost the property market in various ways.
This year's National People's Congress and the State Council's government work report mentioned the property market, while emphasizing the positioning of "houses are for living, not for speculation", and at the same time added "supporting the commercial housing market to better meet the reasonable housing needs of buyers" this expression.
Many experts interviewed said that under the current market environment, the central government's tolerance for the loosening of local property market policies has increased, and the room for policy relaxation is expanding.
The Politburo meeting held on April 29 proposed to "support local governments to improve real estate policies based on local realities".
The outside world believes that this is a recognition of various loose policies this year, and it also gives local governments greater authority to adjust.
It is worth noting that the premise of this statement is "to adhere to the positioning that the house is for living, not for speculation".
Some analysts pointed out that "housing and not speculating" is still the premise and bottom line for local governments to adjust policies based on city-specific policies.
On May 20, multiple sources confirmed that Nanjing lifted the purchase restriction on second-hand houses from that day on, and Nanjing residents and non-Nanjing residents did not need to provide proof of purchase when purchasing second-hand houses.
However, the above policy was urgently suspended after the "half-day tour".
There are public opinions that it can be seen from this that policies to support the demand for reasonable housing and housing purchases can be introduced, but they cannot stimulate demand without a bottom line, and speculative real estate speculation must be prevented.
The analysis pointed out that the main pressure facing China's property market is insufficient demand. To restore market confidence and improve market expectations, the most important thing is to implement precise policies to stimulate real and potential residential consumption demand.
Industry insiders generally believe that in the future, more cities will actively boost the property market through various means.
However, how to balance "housing without speculation" and "better meet the reasonable housing needs of home buyers", and how to adjust the scale and intensity of policy adjustments according to local conditions, is a test faced by local governments.
In Hu Jinghui's view, all localities need to "implement city-specific policies" according to local actual conditions.
He believes that each city actually still has a lot of space and autonomy. On the premise of "housing and not speculating," it is necessary to introduce some "stronger policies" according to local conditions.
(At the request of the interviewee, Li Siqi, Chen Xiang, Yu Yang and Zhang Ming are pseudonyms)
"China News Weekly" Issue 24, 2022
Statement: The publication of "China News Weekly" manuscripts is authorized in writing