Price reduction or gimmick?, It's another "10% down payment"! The total price of new houses in the core area of Shenzhen is currently under curve operation | Reporter | Curve
Although the authorities have taken multiple regulatory measures, phenomena such as low down payments for home purchases seem to be repeatedly prohibited. Recently, the Moments of Shenzhen homebuyers have been flooded with news of "20% off purchase" and "10% down payment", and the location of this new housing project is still in the central area of Futian, which is truly eye-catching.
On site sales: Worried about public opinion fermenting
The reporter went to the Chenghan Bay Shang International · Junxi project located in Shuiwei, Futian. "If you're interested, hurry up and sign the contract, maybe you'll be called off at some point!" the on-site sales agent told reporters.
The reporter learned that this project has actually started operating and was not highly anticipated in the market. However, due to the recent concentration of real estate agents to attract customers, the scene has become lively again. Although it was noon, the reporter also saw many homebuyers coming to see the house.
"At present, the only discounted units for the project are over 70 square meters of residential units, which belong to work-related housing. The original unit price was around 90000-102000 yuan per square meter, with a total price of over 7 million yuan. Now, a 20% down payment is directly 'given', which is equivalent to a down payment of just over 700000 yuan, and also equivalent to an 80% discount," the on-site real estate agent told reporters.
How to operate specifically? "When signing the contract, you bring two bank cards. The construction party will first transfer 20% of the down payment to your A bank card, and then you can transfer from A bank card to B bank card. It will be safe and sound," said the on-site real estate agent.
A salesperson also told reporters, "If you don't choose the 10% down payment method mentioned above, you can choose another option, which is to directly discount the total price of over 7 million yuan by 20%, and the remaining 30% down payment will be used to purchase a house." However, due to the current "minimum discount" of 85% in the new housing market in Shenzhen, facing doubts from reporters, the real estate agent manager said that when signing the contract, they will first discount the total price of over 7 million yuan by 85%, and the remaining part of the company will return the down payment to the buyer.
"The current developers or engineering teams want to quickly recover funds, but they are concerned about public opinion fermentation through high-profile promotion, which is quite contradictory," said the on-site sales personnel. "So if you're interested, hurry up and place a deposit to sign the contract, and the remaining quantity of goods is not much."
The reporter noticed that the official WeChat account of Chenghan Bay Shang International has issued a solemn statement, stating that sales information such as "20% off sales" and "20% down payment" are strictly inconsistent with the facts. However, on July 6th and 7th, many real estate agency managers continued to promote themselves to the public with terms such as "20% off sales" and "20% down payment".
Direct down payment? Explicitly prohibited!
"Low down payment or even zero down payment, this was a scene that appeared in the Shenzhen real estate market around 2008, but now it has reappeared," sighed a homebuyer. A marketing representative from a large real estate company in Shenzhen told reporters that the current recovery of the real estate market is not as expected. If the project's own conditions are average, developers are not willing to "wait" for the market to recover, either delaying the opening of new projects or increasing volume through discounts. Promoting by reducing the down payment is actually just playing the edge of the policy.
The latest data shows that 16209 new residential properties were sold in Shenzhen in the first half of 2023, which is basically the same as the first half of 2022. It is widely believed in the industry that the over 14 month period of urbanization has reached the alert level for new houses in the city. But according to data from the Leyoujia Research Center, based on the average sales level in the past six months, the turnover cycle of new houses in Shenzhen in June 2023 has approached 16 months.
In this context, since last year until now, multiple new housing projects in Shenzhen have been rumored to have "low down payment" or even "zero down payment". Is this a gimmick or a trap?
Wang Yuchen, director of Beijing Jinsui Law Firm, stated that this direct down payment method is inherently illegal and is explicitly prohibited. Wang Yuchen mentioned that if it is a real work arrival, the house payment cannot be transferred to the regulatory account and cannot be used for the development and construction of this project, which may face risks such as delayed delivery of the house. Some workers may also mortgage their houses. "So it's important to be cautious when purchasing this type of house."
Industry insiders have told reporters that according to the relevant housing loan management measures, homebuyers must pay the down payment in a lump sum, and there is no claim that developers borrow money from homebuyers to pay themselves. In addition, for homebuyers, if they are unable to gather the down payment within the agreed time, they may also choose to connect with some third-party financial institutions, allowing them to borrow the remaining down payment through channels other than banks, which can lead to a series of financial chaos. When homebuyers encounter sales methods such as "low down payment" or even "negative down payment", they should remain calm and rational, and consult relevant regulatory authorities to avoid being deceived. At the same time, regulatory authorities should respond quickly, increase guidance and supervision efforts, prevent developers and real estate agents from engaging in various illegal marketing activities, and fundamentally protect the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers from infringement.
In May of this year, the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association issued a solemn notice on prohibiting participation/assistance in illegal activities such as "negative down payment" and "zero down payment" when buying a house. The "Notice" points out that "negative down payment for buying a house" has violated relevant national financial and credit policies. In 2017, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, the Central Bank, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Notice on Standardizing House Purchase Financing and Strengthening Anti Money Laundering Work", which strictly prohibits real estate development enterprises and real estate intermediaries from illegally providing down payment financing, down payment installment payments, and disguised down payment advances. Real estate agencies and practitioners should strictly adhere to the national positioning of "housing for living, not for speculation", strictly manage their internal business, and carry out self inspection and self correction work. It is prohibited to participate in or assist in any form of housing promotion and sales agency behavior that uses "negative down payment" or down payment installment as a gimmick.
