Industry News

Reporter | Chen Ronghao

 

Editor | Proofreading by Liang Luyue, Du Yu, and Du Hengfeng | Proofreading by Xu Shaohang

 

Since late October, Suzhou, Hefei, and Chengdu have successively released implementation rules for the reform of the commodity housing sales system, marking the acceleration of the nationwide commodity housing sales system reform (hereinafter referred to as the "828 Real Estate New Policy") launched on August 28 this year, which is being implemented locally.

 

According to incomplete statistics from the Daily Economic News, as of October 27th, at least 13 cities across the country have issued supporting regulations, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and others.

 

The core logic of this round of reform is relatively clear: for newly released commercial housing projects, the threshold for applying for pre-sale will be uniformly raised to the top of the individual main structure, priority and orderly promotion of existing housing sales, strong supervision of the entire process of supporting pre-sale funds, and buffer measures such as installment payment of land prices.

 

On October 27th, Chen Wenjing, Director of Policy Research at the China Index Research Institute, stated in an interview with reporters that the implementation of the "828 Real Estate New Policy" has been less than two months, and the overall pace belongs to the stable path of "key cities taking the lead and phased deployment". These cities have consistent standards in terms of capped pre-sales, full process supervision of pre-sale funds, and the separation of old and new models. The differences are mainly reflected in operational parameters such as the granularity of the separation between old and new models, the length of the transition period, and the deposit ratio.

 

Only when capped can it be sold

 

The pre-sale threshold has been raised across the board

 

The "828 Real Estate New Policy" clearly states that for projects that have newly released transfer notices to apply for pre-sale, they must meet the requirement of topping out the main structure of individual buildings, and prioritize the sale of existing houses. This has also become the core guiding rule for this round of reform of the commodity housing sales system.

 

However, there are significant differences in the specific criteria for determining the "ceiling" among different regions.

 

Suzhou, which issued detailed rules on October 24th, has stricter requirements: in addition to the completion of concrete pouring for the building roof, rooftop structures, and supporting facilities, a signed and stamped acceptance record must be issued by the construction, survey, design, construction, and supervision units. After the local housing and construction department verifies and confirms the progress of the project on site, the pre-sale permit can be processed.

 

On October 25th, Hefei also issued detailed rules, based on the actual progress of the project, clarifying that the construction of the main load-bearing structure to the design roof elevation and the completion of the top layer pouring can be used as the recognition criteria for pre-sale applications.

 

The standards in Chengdu are relatively simple, requiring only the completion of the top floor slab pouring for individual pre-sale buildings. Except for Suzhou, Beijing, Wuhan, and Shenzhen have also introduced detailed recognition rules for the "main structure cap", while most other cities have not added additional recognition requirements.

 

In sync with the increase in pre-sale thresholds, the pace of promoting the sale of existing houses continues to accelerate, and the setting of deposit ratios has become the core lever for balancing the rights of homebuyers and the early payment collection of real estate companies in various regions.

 

Every time the reporter noticed, in cities where detailed rules have been introduced, the upper limit of the deposit for the sale of existing houses is basically divided into three levels: 1%, 3%, and 5%. Among them, Beijing has the strictest standards, requiring a deposit not exceeding 1% of the total house price; The standards for Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Suzhou are aligned, with a maximum deposit limit of 3%; Guangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Hefei, Wenzhou, Shiyan and other cities all implement the highest proportion of 5%.

 

In addition, transitional buffers have been generally set up in various regions for existing projects before policy milestones. Most cities have explicitly stated that projects that have acquired land before August 28 this year but have not yet obtained a construction project planning permit, and meet relevant conditions such as risk assessment and fund supervision, can be postponed until the end of 2027 and executed according to the original pre-sale rules; Wuhan and Hangzhou have separately stipulated that the transition period for historical legacy projects with stock revitalization can be extended until the end of 2028 after risk assessment and filing. Hefei has relatively greater policy flexibility. For historical legacy revitalization projects that have obtained land use rights before August 28th and have been evaluated and confirmed to be able to be completed and delivered on time, they can apply for pre-sale according to the original pre-sale conditions without setting a clear deadline.

 

Financial supervision to delivery

 

The core plot is still highly sought after

 

At the same time as the pre-sale threshold is raised, the supervision of pre-sale funds is also being comprehensively tightened. "Full supervision, full process control, and delivery release control" have become common regulations implemented in 13 cities, further strengthening the defense line of fund security.

 

After reviewing the regulatory regulations in various regions, it was found that the system of sponsoring banks for pre-sale funds is the mainstream configuration, but the degree of supervision varies.

 

Among them, Ningbo requires all purchase funds, including down payments and mortgage loans, to be deposited into the regulatory account until the project is completed and the supporting facilities such as water, electricity, and gas meet the standards before the fund supervision can be lifted.

 

Suzhou's control rules are more refined: all purchase funds paid by homebuyers, such as down payments and mortgages, must be fully deposited into the regulatory account. According to local rules, mortgage loans can only be issued after the completion and filing of the project. Pre sale fund supervision must be approved after the completion and filing of the current house sales of the project before the regulatory account can be lifted and cancelled.

 

According to Chengdu regulations, only after the completion and acceptance of the project, as well as the delivery and use of ancillary facilities and equipment, can the development enterprise lift its financial supervision. At the same time, it is required to retain appropriate funds for subsequent housing delivery and initial registration. Hefei also clarifies that fund supervision can only be lifted after the completion acceptance of the project and the delivery conditions of supporting facilities such as water, electricity, and gas are met.

 

In addition, in order to hedge against the financial pressure caused by the prolonged payment cycle, various regions have generally introduced supporting policies for installment payment of land prices for commercial residential land that has been newly released for sale after the "828 Real Estate New Policy".

 

Beijing allows the remaining balance of land to be paid in full within two years; Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Tianjin implement the "1+1" rule, which defaults to paying in full within one year. Those who meet the conditions can apply for an extension of one year according to the procedure; Cities such as Ningbo, Shiyan, Suzhou, Hefei, and Chengdu, which have recently implemented detailed regulations, also allow land prices to be paid in installments within a maximum of two years, and the installment payments are not subject to interest.

 

Liu Shui, Director of Enterprise Research at Zhongzhi Research Institute, stated that after the pre-sale node is moved to the top, the demand for self owned funds of enterprises has significantly increased, and the turnover rate of self owned funds has significantly decreased. Central and state-owned enterprises have sufficient self owned funds and abundant long-term low-cost funds, which can adapt to long-term accumulation. Small and medium-sized real estate enterprises, as well as private enterprises with high net debt, lack sufficient self owned capital and directly lose their ability to independently acquire land. They either cooperate in development or withdraw from land acquisition.

 

Although the overall cost of capital occupation in the industry has increased, the land market has shown a clear differentiation between hot and cold, and the popularity of high-quality land parcels in core cities has not decreased. In the first land auction after the implementation of the Shanghai regulations - the tenth batch of land auctions in 2026, the Jiangwan Historical and Cultural Landscape Area in Yangpu District underwent 109 rounds of bidding, with a premium rate of 21.46%; The land in Gumei North Community, Minhang District has undergone 177 rounds of bidding, with a premium rate of 24.44%, and has been fiercely contested by multiple leading real estate companies.

 

After the implementation of the Guangzhou regulations, a plot of land in Huangpu Science City was sold through 71 rounds of bidding, with a premium rate of 26.6%. In second tier cities, two plots of land in the Ersha area of Zhongyuan District, Zhengzhou were both sold at a premium. Sichuan Bangtai won the 24th plot of land with a premium rate of 20.76%, which is also its second time adding to the same area in the past month.

 

In Liu Shui's view, the continued popularity of core land parcels is partly due to factors such as installment payments for land and the fact that most of the land parcels to be auctioned are small and medium-sized, which has lowered the funding threshold for real estate companies to participate in auctions; On the other hand, with mature supporting facilities and scarce residential supply in the core area, the certainty of project decentralization is higher, and it is still the preferred option for real estate companies to layout.

 

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