On February 2, the China Index Research Institute released the observation report on the property market in the Yangtze River Delta. The data showed that in 2021, the turnover of new commercial houses in Hangzhou was nearly 20 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 46.5%, a new high in recent years. However, the property market in Hangzhou experienced “hot before cold” in 2021, and the transaction has been “four consecutive declines” since September.
From the price side, according to the data released by the National Bureau of statistics, in December 2021, the price of new commercial housing in Hangzhou increased by 0.5% month on month, becoming the city with the highest increase among the 15 cities with rising house prices in China.
Behind the record high sales, the inventory in Hangzhou market remained low. Data show that by the end of 2021, the clearance cycle of commercial housing in Hangzhou was only 2.6 months, of which the dominant inventory remained low in the second half of the year, and the supply of houses was insufficient. By region, the residential houses available for sale in Hangzhou are concentrated in Lin’an, Fuyang and Xiaoshan, of which the clearance cycle in Lin’an district is the longest, about 10 months. The city’s hidden inventory is about 13 million square meters, and the decontamination cycle is 9.7 months. Nearly 50 sectors are facing supply interruption, while the stock is mainly concentrated in suburban core sectors such as Fuyang, Yuhang and Linping.
However, the second-hand housing market in Hangzhou did not reach a new high. The annual turnover in 2021 decreased year-on-year, with twists and turns. In 2021, a total of 69819 second-hand houses were sold in Hangzhou (excluding Fuyang and Lin’an), a year-on-year decrease of 14.4%. Monthly, the market heat continued to rise in the first half of last year, and the trading volume of second-hand houses hit a new high in April; Affected by policy regulation in the second half of the year, the trading volume continued to decline, and the transaction scale hit a record low in October; In November and December, with the easing of housing loan interest rate and the acceleration of lending speed, the second-hand housing market in Hangzhou stopped falling for six consecutive times, and the trading volume bottomed out and rebounded.
China Index Research Institute mentioned in the report that in 2021, the Hangzhou market experienced a period of great heat in the property market and policy bottoming. In 2022, the regulation will continue, the trend of centralized land supply and government profit transfer will not change, the Hangzhou property market may enter a new development cycle, and the market will stabilize in the adjustment.
Recalling the regulation and control policies of Hangzhou’s real estate market in 2021, Hangzhou has successively tightened the purchase restriction conditions of housing, and the behaviors of real estate gift, legal auction of housing and purchase of high-level talents have been included in the purchase restriction. The treatment of “settlement before employment” of college students and postgraduates has been cancelled, and the threshold of house purchase has been further raised to limit speculation. At the same time, the lottery system has been gradually optimized and shortlisted by the number of years of social security, which has greatly taken care of and improved the customer group.
In January 2021, Hangzhou issued a new policy, which stipulates that those who have settled for less than five years will be limited to one set of housing within the scope of purchase restriction; If high-level talents transfer houses within the scope of purchase restriction, they can enjoy priority purchase only if they have no self owned housing record within the scope of purchase restriction for 3 years.
On February 3, 2021, Hangzhou housing security and real estate administration, together with Hangzhou central sub branch of the people’s Bank of China and Zhejiang banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, urged real estate development to strictly review the freezing of funds of home buyers.
On March 3, 2021, Hangzhou issued the notice on further regulating the order of the real estate market, which included legal auction houses into the purchase restriction, and strictly prevented the illegal inflow of business loans and consumer loans into the real estate market.
On April 13, 2021, Hangzhou tightened the purchase restriction conditions for high-level talents, and the second suite can only be purchased after five years after the identified high-level talent families in Hangzhou have settled in Hangzhou. After this adjustment, the purchase of two sets of housing by high-level families is consistent with the requirements of non talented families. Those who have settled in Hangzhou for less than 5 years shall be limited to one set of housing within the scope of purchase restriction in Hangzhou.
On August 5, 2021, Hangzhou issued the notice on Further Strengthening the regulation of the real estate market, adding the purchase restriction policy again. In addition to raising the entry threshold for buyers, it is required to rank popular real estate according to social security to determine the lottery qualification.
The local auction rules have experienced the adjustment of “loose strict partial relaxation”. In 2021, most of the terms of Hangzhou’s first land supply continued the rules of the previous non centralized land supply period, and the land auction was hot; Subsequently, the policy was gradually tightened. The second local auction raised the threshold for real estate enterprises to participate in the auction, and increased the construction requirements of the plot at the same time; The three batches of local auction policies are mainly adjusted from the aspects of transferring profits to real estate enterprises and improving the enthusiasm of real estate enterprises to participate in the auction, including restoring the land hook system, reducing the premium ceiling, unlimited qualification to participate in the auction, etc. In 2021, Hangzhou launched 139 homesteads, with a year-on-year increase of 48% in supply area and 16% in transaction area. Both homestead supply and transaction scale reached a record high.
