Comprehensive Policies Boost "Silver October" Housing Market Recovery
During the National Day holiday, the average number of subscriptions in Guangzhou and Shenzhen doubled compared to September, while Beijing and Shanghai both exceeded the entire month of September.
A package of favorable policies has been implemented, and the real estate market has warmed up at the start of "Silver October."
Recently, a series of policies to optimize the real estate market have been concentrated and implemented, reducing the threshold and cost of buying a house, boosting market confidence, and helping the real estate market to stop falling and stabilize. At the beginning of "Silver October", the number of visits and subscriptions to core city real estate projects has significantly increased, and the "gold" content and quality of real estate transactions have become more abundant.
"From house viewing to paying a deposit, it took only a dozen days. In the middle, the new policy in Beijing was introduced, and the minimum down payment ratio for the first house was reduced to 15%. I felt it was a good time to make a decisive move." On October 7th, on the last day of the National Day holiday, 29-year-old Xinxin bought her first house in Tongzhou District, Beijing, realizing the dream of settling down in Beijing for her family of three. "I was still hesitating, but as soon as the incentive policy came out, I made up my mind." Xinxin said.
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With a flood of favorable policies, the sales office is crowded with people, and real estate companies frequently issue "battle reports"... As a series of policies to optimize the real estate market were concentrated and implemented before the holiday, the number of customers choosing to buy property during this National Day holiday, like Xinxin, has increased. Data shows that the number of visits and subscriptions to core city real estate projects has significantly increased, boosting market confidence and warming up the real estate market at the beginning of "Silver October."
The number of subscriptions in first-tier cities during the holiday has increased significantly.
"It's very popular!" On October 8th, when the reporter came to a real estate agency in Xicheng District, Beijing, and talked about the transaction situation of second-hand houses during the National Day holiday, the staff Chen Xu's answer was concise and clear, with a hint of joy in her words. She told the reporter that just the day before, one of her clients had just successfully signed a contract. After the new policy was introduced, this client, who had been observing for a long time, quickly "got on the bus" during the holiday and completed the entire process of house viewing and signing.
Chen Xu feels that the market is heating up. She told the reporter that taking a certain area in Beijing as an example, the transaction volume per month was previously forty to fifty sets, but during the 7 days of the National Day holiday, the transaction volume reached 32 sets. On October 8th, the trading momentum was still strong, and 4 sets were traded in the morning.
In the circle of friends of Xiao Feng, a real estate consultant at China Merchants Times Tide in Shanghai, a picture of "the daily coffee consumption of the real estate project during the National Day period exceeded 300 cups" reflects the significant increase in the number of visiting customers and has become his promotional material for the project's popularity and urgency to buy. Data released by China Merchants Shekou Shanghai Company shows that during the National Day holiday, the number of new visitors to the real estate project doubled compared to the previous month, with "an average of 1 house sold per hour".
The real estate market has become significantly hotter compared to before the holiday, which can be seen from the overall subscription volume. According to the monitoring of the China Index Academy, the average subscription volume of the surveyed projects during the National Day holiday in most cities exceeded the entire month of September. Especially in first-tier cities, driven by policy optimization, the number of visits and subscriptions to various projects has significantly increased. The average subscription volume of the monitored projects in Guangzhou and Shenzhen during the holiday reached twice that of the entire month of September, while Beijing and Shanghai exceeded the subscription volume of the entire month of September.As sales data warm up, some real estate companies have begun to adjust their pricing strategies. On October 7th, a real estate firm in Guangdong issued a poster announcing that from October 8th, a 2% discount on home purchases would be fully reclaimed for all available properties nationwide. The company stated that a package of favorable policies has had a positive impact on the real estate market, enhancing market expectations and customer confidence.

"This can be understood as an improvement in the developers' sales conditions and an increase in their ability to attract customers, while also reflecting a marketing strategy that helps attract more home purchase demand," said Yan Yuejin, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Yiju Real Estate Research Institute.
Policy reinforcement drives market recovery
The warmth in the real estate market during the National Day holiday is closely related to the introduction of several major favorable policies for the real estate market just before the holiday.
On September 26th, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee first proposed to promote the real estate market to stop falling and stabilize. Subsequently, first-tier cities have introduced a series of optimized real estate market policies, including optimizing purchase restrictions, reducing existing mortgage interest rates, lowering the minimum down payment ratio for personal housing loans, and reducing the social security or personal income tax payment period for non-local household purchases. These policies not only fully boost market confidence but also reduce the threshold and cost of home purchases, and reduce the restrictions and concerns associated with purchasing homes.
Not only in first-tier cities, but also in many places across the country, real estate policies have been further optimized, and favorable new policies have been widely implemented and continuously reinforced. More than 10 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government), including Chongqing, Sichuan, Guangdong, Hubei, and Yunnan, have introduced provincial-level policy documents to promote the healthy development of the real estate market. More than 50 cities, including Wuhan, Nanchang, Hefei, and Guangyuan, have introduced optimized real estate market policies for their cities.
In addition to policy support, real estate companies' various promotional activities have also attracted homebuyers with substantial discounts. Just before the National Day holiday, the China Real Estate Industry Association issued an initiative to the entire industry to carry out the "Hundred Cities and Thousand Enterprises Commodity Housing Promotion Activity," mobilizing more than 100 cities, thousands of real estate companies, and brokerage agencies to carry out various forms of commodity housing promotion activities in October. Various activities such as non-stop operations, home purchase discounts, coupons, and gift home purchase rights have been launched, driving home purchase enthusiasm to rise.
"The comprehensive support of policies, coupled with the launch of promotional activities, can be described as the right time, place, and people," said Li Yujia, Chief Researcher at the Housing Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Urban Planning Institute. The clear statement of the meeting on "stopping the decline and stabilizing" greatly boosted market expectations. In addition, credit policies are strong, loan enthusiasm is increased, and interest rate reductions and other factors that reduce home purchase costs have led to the recovery of the real estate market during the National Day holiday.
Improved expectations help to stop the decline and stabilize
At present, home purchase policies in various places have entered a more relaxed stage, and many homebuyers have indicated that policy incentives are an important reason for their decision to purchase homes. "With the implementation of these policies, home purchase demand will be released, expectations will be improved, confidence will be strengthened, and the real estate market will be helped to stop the decline and stabilize," said Pu Zhan, Deputy Director of the Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development."In the critical period when the market is stabilizing after a downturn, it is necessary to continue to leverage the adjustment, optimization, and guiding functions of policies effectively," said Yan Yuejin. "Each region's real estate development has its own particularities and characteristics, so it is essential to empower local governments with autonomy in market regulation, which is key to the regulation of the real estate market."
"The impressive performance of the real estate market at the beginning of 'Silver October' is closely related to the targeted policies in first-tier cities, making good use of their autonomy in real estate market regulation, and optimizing policies such as purchase restrictions," Li Yujia stated. "Once the first-tier cities stabilize, the real estate markets in urban circles centered around these cities will also stabilize. This is the path to achieving a halt in the decline and stabilization of the real estate market."
Looking ahead, Li Yifeng, Deputy Director of Research at the China Index Academy, said, "From a policy perspective, there is still room for optimization in the restrictive policies of Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, and second-tier and third- and fourth-tier cities are also expected to increase the intensity of home purchase subsidies to further promote market stabilization in terms of volume and price. It is worth noting that, in addition to 'promoting sales' policies, improving state-owned enterprise inventory collection and other inventory reduction policies are also important areas of focus."
"Moving forward, driving the improvement of the economic fundamentals remains key to stabilizing real estate and expectations. In the fourth quarter, if policies continue to be effective and the economy accelerates its recovery, the real estate markets in core cities may bottom out and stabilize, and a national market stabilization is also anticipated," Li Yifeng said.