China’s housing market gets lifelines as cities, lenders ease down payment and financing to arrest slump
- Lived-in home sales in Shenzhen shrank last year to a 15-year low, according to an industry association; January sales in Guangzhou fell 56 per cent
- ‘Policy easing may have entered a new phase,’ according to Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management
In Heze, a city in northern Shandong province, four major banks have lowered the minimum deposit for home purchases this week to 20 per cent from 30 per cent, according to some buyers who spoke to the Post. Buyers in Beihai in southern Guangxi province have been able to borrow 60 per cent of the cost to fund their second homes, up from 40 per cent in January, according to the Provident Fund Centre.
“It signals policy easing in the property sector may have entered a new phase,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management in Hong Kong. “I would expect more cities to follow Heze to cut the down the payment ratio.”
03:17
Hong Kong-Shenzhen border reopening on hold again as both sides grapple with Covid-19 resurgence
China’s US$1.7 trillion housing market has shown widening cracks of late as the economy grew in the fourth quarter at the slowest pace in 18 months amid the pandemic and a stock market slump.
Sales, measured by contracted volume at the nation’s 100 biggest developers, shrank 41 per cent in January from last year to 526.6 billion yuan (US$83 billion), according to data compiled by the China Real Estate Information Corporation, which compiles industry data.
