Hefei has been promoting it for nearly a year without success. There are real estate projects in Hangzhou that sell houses based on the area of the unit.
On May 9, Hangzhou completely canceled the conditions and restrictions on the number of houses purchased. Later, a real estate project in Fuyang District, Hangzhou advertised: "Sales based on the area within the apartment." In other words, when buying a house, you only need to pay for the actual area used in the apartment, and you do not need to pay for the "shared area".
In the Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou is not the first city to get involved in sales based on the area of the apartment. In July 2023, a special meeting in Hefei City, Anhui Province made it clear that in order to avoid an excessively large proportion of public pool areas, it is necessary to actively explore the pricing of commercial housing sales based on the area within the unit. However, the reporter's interview found that the implementation effect of this policy in Hefei was not ideal.
Will more cities or real estate projects in the Yangtze River Delta follow suit in the future? It remains to be seen.
Recently, a real estate project in Fuyang District, Hangzhou, put up an eye-catching slogan: "This is the first case in Hangzhou. The area within the apartment is priced and sold, and no sharing is allowed." The property consists of bungalows, duplexes and courtyards. It is currently for sale. It is about 30 kilometers away from Hangzhou Railway Station by car.
For a long time, most cities in China have calculated house prices based on "building area" when conducting commercial housing transactions, that is, the area inside the unit plus the "shared area." The so-called "shared area" actually refers to the area of public parts shared by each household, such as stairs, elevators, corridors, etc., which usually accounts for 10%-30% of the building area. In other words, part of the price paid by home buyers is for the "shared area".
On May 12, the reporter contacted the sales office of the real estate. The salesperson said that the main types of houses currently on sale are 112 square meters and 136 square meters. The main type of villas has an area of 170 square meters. All marked is the building area. When the reporter asked how to calculate the price based on the area inside the apartment, the other party only said vaguely: "You haven't seen it, so I will talk about the building area here, which may be better understood."
However, the salesperson still gave an example: a bungalow with a construction area of 136 square meters has a discount of about 10% on site, and the acquisition rate is about 85%. In other words, the so-called pricing based on the "inside area" can actually be regarded as a disguised discount: the unit price remains unchanged, but the pricing area is smaller, and the total price is lower.
In Hefei, another provincial capital city in the Yangtze River Delta, it was proposed at a city-wide special meeting on real estate work at the end of July last year that "to avoid an excessive proportion of shared areas, we should actively explore the pricing of commercial housing sales based on the area within the unit." However, more than nine months have passed, and this move has made much noise but little rain. The reporter recently contacted several properties for sale in Hefei, and they all said they were still selling based on building area.
A salesperson from one of the real estate projects said with certainty: "Currently, no real estate in Hefei is sold based on the area inside the unit. It must be calculated based on the building area. If you calculate based on the area inside the unit, won't the unit price become higher? Development? The cost is there, it’s impossible to say that tens of square meters of area were cut off for no reason.”
A salesperson from another real estate development also said that in specific operations, Hefei has not yet implemented the policy of “valuing the area within the apartment,” and “it will not be implemented in a short time. If the property is sold based on the area within the apartment, the unit price will inevitably be more expensive.” , it is impossible to sell it at the original unit price."
Why did this move fail to advance smoothly? Some people in the industry believe that this measure involves many issues. For example, how to calculate the area that was originally semi-gifted? According to what area of the house is the land transfer fee charged? How to pay property fees? Specific to the property itself, after handover, the management, maintenance, and safety responsibilities of the shared areas are all issues that need to be considered.
In addition to the Yangtze River Delta, other regions are also being explored. Recently, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province clearly stated that “from May 1, 2024, commercial housing within Zhaoqing City will be priced and promoted based on the area within the unit” and required that “all real estate development companies and real estate brokerage agencies should The price of each set of commercial housing shall be clearly marked, and the price tag, price list or price manual shall be placed in a conspicuous position of the sales place, and the price content shall be consistent with the unit price of the area within the unit."
However, the reporter noticed that on an online intermediary platform, the basic pricing method of real estate information for sale in Zhaoqing is still based on building area. An agent who represents first-hand housing said that the current main promotion method for some new properties is discounts based on the original total price, and does not reprice based on the area inside the unit. "Take a certain property as an example. For a unit with a construction area of 115 square meters, the original price A set is about 900,000 yuan, and the current base price is less than 800,000 yuan. If you join our group purchase, you can get a free parking space."
Regarding the topic of "rejection of public sharing" that has been trending on the Internet recently, home buyers have mixed opinions. Many people think it is a good phenomenon, but some people are worried: "The price is only based on the actual use area. Then the shared area of the property Will there be a significant shrinkage, resulting in a deterioration of the living environment in the community?”
Yan Yuejin, research director of E-House Research Institute, believes that a real estate project in Hangzhou directly announced "in-unit area pricing", which is more specific in form and attracts more attention than a city's announcement at the policy level. This allows everyone to intuitively and clearly see what problems may arise during the implementation process. This form of real estate testing is more conducive to promoting the real estate market to explore new pricing methods.
"The reason why the shared area is so sensitive is because of housing prices." Yan Yuejin analyzed, "Behind the issue of shared area, there is also an issue of clear consumption. 'Rejecting shared sharing' is actually an issue of protecting housing rights."
Yan Yuejin explained that based on the construction area, some developers will intentionally increase the shared area in order to reduce construction costs and increase profit margins. This has led to the current shared area area of some properties even exceeding 40%. After all, the construction cost of the shared part is low. In the inner part of the sleeve. If in the future everyone will price based on the area inside the apartment, then when the area of the apartment is too large, the unit price of the apartment will be raised quickly, and the house will appear to be very cost-effective when it is sold. Naturally, developers will not dare to deliberately build large apartments. area. But on the other hand, "in-suite area pricing" may also cause problems such as shrinking of the shared area, such as narrow aisles, etc., which affects the living comfort. The management department should put forward more standardized building design requirements at the policy level. For some obvious violations, The planning and design of livable properties should be stopped directly.
