The government in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia is offering half-price homes to spice up the housing market
Municipal government officials across China continue to show a taste for migrant home buyers, as Mingtiandi’s round up of China regulatory news finds new incentives for educated out-of-towners to buy housing in Hohhot, Baoding and Ningbo.
And this fashion for migration incentives appears to have top level backing, according to media reports, as China’s politburo endorses a more flexible approach to regulating the housing market from city to city.
Hohhot Turns Up Housing Heat with Offer of Half-Price Homes
Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, has decided to reward successful students with a stable family life with a chance to turn all that self-discipline into hard assets.
In a move understood to be aimed as much at a slowing housing market as combating a brain drain from the largely rural area, city authorities have decided to offer local university graduates who finished their studies within the last three years, and who have already married, a chance to to buy homes at just half the market price, according to a notice published by the city government on April 18th.
The discounted homes available through the program will be around 100 square metres in size, and are not allowed to be resold within five years of being purchased under the discounted scheme. At the same time, Hohhot is also rolling out a rental housing programme for university graduates which would allow qualifying participants to waive their rent for the first two years. Both the policies come into effect from 18 May 18 and have five year durations, according to the notice. Read more>>
Politburo Confirms Flexibility for Local Housing Regulators
China’s politburo has reiterated its tough stance on housing speculation in meetings held on 19 April, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The tagline that “housing is for living in, not for speculation” given by Xi for the first time in the 19th congress in 2017 was reiterated at the meeting, where it was recognised as the foundation for future housing policy. At the same time, China’s top decision-making body added as a new policy layer that it indicated would inform future management of real estate markets that city governments should be allowed to set their own housing regulations.
The politburo pronouncements come as China’s policy makers struggle with how to manage a housing market which has turned tepid in the last year. Read more>>
New Rules Forbid New Land Sales in Oversupplied Cities
Cities with an oversupply of housing equal to more than three years of home sales will be restricted from offering new residential plots for sale to developers under guidelines from China’s Ministry of Natural Resources which were announced on 17 April.
The land sale rules, which are part of a central government effort to better fit housing policies to local conditions also specify that cities with unsold housing supplies insufficient to cover six months of typical sales should make a significant increase in land approved for sale during this year. Read more>>
Ningbo Dangles Home Subsidies for Nobel Prize Winners and Other Talent
The port city of Zhejiang province, Ningbo, is attracting talents by awarding them from RMB150,000 to as much as RMB 8 million for buying homes in the city, according to an article published by the press office of the Ningbo government on April 21st.
The scheme allocates the highest level of subsidies for Nobel prize winners and other honorees, and while mere doctorate degree holders will qualify for the lowest level of incentive of RMB 150,000. Read more>>
Hebei City Joins Race to Lure Nobel Winners
The trend of boosting the housing market through migration incentives also made its way to Hebei province where Qingyuan district, in the city of Baoding allows qualified talent, and even their parents, to purchase homes without having previously established residency.
According to a notice published by the district government on April 16th, members of recognised academies, and — again — Nobel Prize winners — as well as more mundane university graduates in engineering or other technical subjects can buy homes without having a local hukou and even be eligible for grants of up to RMB 500,000 towards purchasing a home. Read more>>
Shanghai District Bans Sales of Unfinished Homes
Shanghai’s Chongming island has banned developer sales of unfinished homes, which it classifies as housing which does not yet include interior facilities. From 1 May the rural district of Shanghai will require all newly built residential properties to be “fully constructed” before being sold, according to The Paper.
To qualify for sale in Chongming, homes must now have installed electrical wiring and switches, as well as being equipped with bathroom and kitchen facilities. Similar regulations have been in force in the rest of Shanghai since 2017 but rural districts were allowed to implement the requirement on their own schedules. Read more>>
Tune in again soon for more China real estate policy news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
Leave a Reply