"It feels like all the policies that could be given have been given, so there's no point in waiting any longer."

Chengdu's second-hand home transaction volume has surged continuously!

On November 1, data from the Chengdu Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau showed that 1,155 second-hand homes were transacted in Chengdu that day, meaning the heat in Chengdu's second-hand home market has carried over from October into November, with daily average transactions exceeding 1,000 units for 15 consecutive days. For the whole of October, 19,807 second-hand homes were transacted in Chengdu, bringing the annual total to 178,622 units.

At the same time, the record for the highest transaction unit price for high-rise residential second-hand homes in Chengdu was also broken. In October, a garden-equipped, fully furnished top-floor duplex in Chengdu's Yitai Tianjiao with a gross floor area of about 500 square meters was sold for a total price of 46.6 million yuan, at a transaction unit price of about 93,157 yuan per square meter.

Zhang Tiansheng, head of the Beike Chengdu Transaction Center, said that since the National Day holiday, Chengdu's second-hand home transaction volume has remained steady, showing an overall stepwise increase. This market rally is quite different from previous years; if the heat continues, it is possible that Chengdu's second-hand home transaction volume in 2024 will break through last year's 220,000 units.

As the market prospers, the mindset of some second-hand homeowners has also changed. Data from Zhuge Zhaofang shows that from October 14 to October 27, 2,007 second-hand homes in Chengdu raised their prices. However, judging from overall transaction results, prices have not seen sharp rises or falls, and second-hand home transaction prices remain stable.

Guan Rongxue, a senior analyst at the Linping Housing Big Data Research Institute, expects that with policies continuing to take effect and more supportive policies being rolled out, Chengdu's steady and improving market trend is expected to continue.

19,800 units transacted in October

A Chengdu second-hand home agency storefront. Photo by Meng Shuangkui

"Previously only 1 to 2 units were transacted in a month, but as of October 28 I had already closed 5 second-hand home deals," said Deng Kaiwen of the Deyou Cartier Garden City store in Chengdu, noting that the store had accumulated over 800,000 yuan in performance this month.

A China Real Estate News reporter learned through visits that the second-hand home transaction volume at multiple agency stores in Chengdu doubled in October; during the seven-day National Day holiday in particular, some stores even closed more than 50 second-hand home deals.

The rise in second-hand home transaction volume was driven by a密集 flurry of favorable policies.

At the end of September, heavyweight statements from high-level meetings and the密集 implementation of policies boosted homebuyer confidence. From October 1 to 7, compared with the daily average transaction level in September, Beike's second-hand home transaction volume in Chengdu increased by about 60%. With the third LPR cut of the year recently, commercial loan rates gradually approaching provident fund loan rates, data from the Chengdu Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau showed that on October 23, 1,332 second-hand homes were transacted, setting a new single-day transaction record for Chengdu's second-hand homes this year for the first time. Six days later, that record was broken. On October 29, data from the Chengdu Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau showed that 1,371 second-hand homes were transacted, hitting a new single-day high for Chengdu's second-hand homes this year.

On October 15, four policy documents concerning Chengdu's property market were released on the same day, covering multiple favorable measures such as commercial-to-provident-fund loan conversion, raising the provident fund loan limit, home purchase for household registration, and lifting the sales restriction on newly purchased commodity housing.

"It feels like all the policies that could be given have been given, so there's no point in waiting any longer." Ms. Zhang, who lives in Chengdu's Dongjiao Jiyi area, bought a second-hand home in Gemdale Tianfu City in the High-tech South Zone in October. While viewing homes, the three units she favored all had other buyers viewing them at the same time—a scene she hadn't seen in a long time, which gave her a sense of urgency.

According to Beike data, in the first week after the new policies (October 14–20), 59,300 person-times viewed homes in Chengdu, the highest single-week figure in nearly three months. CRIC data shows that during that week, the number of second-hand home viewings in Chengdu reached 81,700, a new high for the whole of 2024.

The rapid growth in viewings drove Chengdu's second-hand home transaction volume to 5,989 units in the second week after the new policies (October 21–27). As of October 31, a total of 19,807 second-hand homes were transacted in Chengdu in October, second only to July's 21,240 units.

Zhang Tiansheng told the reporter that Chengdu's new policies are down-to-earth and have stimulated the replacement demand of many families with two or more children, and that banks' continued rate cuts and the implementation of the commercial-to-provident-fund loan conversion policy are friendly to ordinary people in terms of both purchase costs and subsequent loan procedures. "Many cities have also introduced 'commercial-to-provident-fund' conversion, but based on our observations, many cities still require buyers to pay off their commercial loans before they can convert to provident fund loans. Chengdu has fully connected the two aspects in implementation, saving buyers the time of raising funds and avoiding the bridge loan fees incurred from borrowing externally."

It is worth noting that many buyers from other provinces and cities also appeared in this round of the market. Mr. Zhang and his wife, who live in Foshan, Guangdong, rushed to Chengdu on a weekend to view homes. They already own 3 homes in Foshan and Sanya, and having heard that buying a home in Chengdu now allows them to obtain household registration, they see it as an opportunity for both self-occupation and investment.

Guan Rongxue said that Chengdu's new policies, such as lifting the sales restriction on newly purchased housing and optimizing home purchase for household registration, have effectively stimulated demand in the real estate market, increased market transaction activity, enhanced homebuyer confidence, and played a positive role in promoting the steady recovery of the real estate market. Since the current home-buying environment has already reached a notably relaxed state, it is a fairly good time to buy a home.

Some homeowners have already raised prices

Along with improving market expectations, homeowners' mindsets have also changed, with some second-hand homeowners announcing price increases.

Data from Zhuge Zhaofang shows that from October 14 to October 27, 2,007 second-hand homes in Chengdu raised their prices. In the first week after the new policies in particular (October 14–20), 1,530 listings in Chengdu raised prices, up 144% from the previous week.

For example, at Tianxi China Merchants Times Park, a four-bedroom unit with a gross floor area of about 137.13 square meters raised its price by 190,000 yuan in two days; at Youpindao Phase I in Qingyang District, a four-bedroom unit of about 171.21 square meters raised its price by 300,000 yuan in two days, and another four-bedroom unit of about 110.56 square meters raised its price by 200,000 yuan in five days. In addition, a three-bedroom unit of about 89.76 square meters at Nancheng Duhui raised its price by 150,000 yuan in one day.

However, some listings are accelerating their price cuts to sell.

A four-bedroom unit of about 142.2 square meters at Sunac Jiutang Mansion in Chengdu's Tianfu New Area was listed on the Beike app on October 15 last year at a price of 3.75 million yuan. It was frequently marked down in October and November of the same year, but only by 30,000 to 50,000 yuan. Possibly because the gap from the owner's expectations was too large, the unit never sold, but the owner refused to cut the price.

Nearly a year passed, and at the end of August this year, the owner suddenly cut the price by 500,000 yuan, bringing the listing price to 2.95 million yuan. Deng Kaiwen explained that the owner did not plan to move to Tianfu New Area, so he had no choice but to part with it.

"With more people coming to view homes, some owners want to see if they can sell their homes for more money; others urgently need cash and are eager to sell—these are all normal consumer psychology," Zhang Tiansheng analyzed. Judging from actual transaction results, prices have neither risen sharply nor fallen sharply, and Chengdu's second-hand home transaction prices remain relatively stable.

It is understood that at present, various indicators of Chengdu's second-hand homes are relatively stable, and transaction prices by area are also very stable. Zhang Tiansheng said that affected by the market, some popular areas and popular communities have seen slight increases, but market conditions in less popular areas and communities have changed little.