Fuzhou real estate body cancels commission-sharing plan for home purchases, apologises for ‘inaccurate grasp’ of Beijing policy
- Industry body apologises for ‘inaccurate grasp and understanding’ of a guiding policy laid down by China’s housing and market regulators on May 8
- Fuzhou Real Estate Intermediary Industry Association first to respond to Beijing’s call but its policy would fail to reduce transaction costs, director of 58 Anjuke Real Estate Research Institute says
On Thursday evening, the Fuzhou Real Estate Intermediary Industry Association said it will retract a document issued hours earlier that implemented a one-month pilot programme requiring both home sellers and buyers to pay 1.5 per cent of transaction prices as commission starting June 1. Currently, homebuyers in Fuzhou bear the full burden of commission fees.
The association, an industry body that looks into guiding policies issued by authorities to suggest industry standards, “deeply apologised” for its “inaccurate grasp and understanding” of a guiding policy laid down by China’s housing and market regulators on May 8, and that authorities had asked for the revocation. It added that the document “deviated from the spirit” of the May 8 policy, and pledged to further study how to lower transaction costs for both buyers and sellers.
Last month, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration for Market Regulation said real estate agents should lower their commission fees “reasonably” based on the principle of “the higher the transaction amount, the lower the commission rate”, and guided both sellers and buyers to share the fees. The guiding policy aims to lower the costs for buyers to boost sales in the secondary homes market.
Chinese regulators scold developers for ‘bad behaviour’ over excessive discounts
The Fuzhou industry body was the first to respond to the call, but its policy failed to reduce transaction costs in effect, said Lu Qilin, director of 58 Anjuke Real Estate Research Institute.
“The commission is still 3 per cent of the transaction price even after the co-payment, which is just the same as before,” he said. “The commission borne by the home seller will most likely be reflected in the asking price.”
Beijing likely to ‘keep market support coming’ as China’s home sales tank
Fitch said official data showed steeper falls in the prices of secondary homes and volumes in April, with prices in tier-two and tier-three cities falling by 2.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively, on average. Lived-in home prices in lower-tier cities, in particular, have underperformed since 2021 amid excess supply and population flows.
“Secondary-home market sentiment can be viewed generally as a barometer of the property sector, as pricing and supply are not subject to regulators’ interventions,” Fitch analysts said.
