City to increase housing supply

Writer: Xia Yuanjie  |  Editor: Holly Wang  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2021-04-14

A total of 12,728 units of commercial housing are expected to enter the city’s market in the second quarter (Q2), according to a recent announcement of the Shenzhen Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau.

As of April 6, 36 commercial residence and business apartment projects, with an estimated supply of 1.41 million square meters, had been planned to be put into the market in Q2. The number of available units will be 15,318, which consist of 12,728 commercial apartments and 2,590 business apartments.

Business apartments usually do not come with gas supply and cannot be used for school enrollment as compared to commercial housing.

Shenzhen will keep increasing housing supply in 2021. This year will see the construction of 15 million square meters of commercial housing and 100,000 rental homes.

Also, the city government has vowed to continue stabilizing housing prices. The authorities released a reference price list for pre-owned apartments in all residential communities of the city in February in a bid to curb arbitrary price markups.

The authority will also make efforts to strengthen market oversight and crackdown on those who disrupt market order.

In another development, in responding to rumors that banks in Guangzhou have suspended applications for mortgage loans for resold homes, many State banks and joint-stock banks told Shenzhen Economic Daily that they were not suspending loan applications. However, some analysts expected the mortgage interest rates to surge.

An industry insider who declined to be identified said that currently, no banks have stopped lending loans for buyers of pre-owned homes, but there is always a problem with mortgage quotas. With the limited quotas, banks are inclined to opt for mortgages for new apartments sold by developers who have entered into partnership with the banks.

According to data from Rong360 Big Data Research Institute, the average interest rate for housing loans nationwide has been on the rise since January this year. In March, the national average interest rate for loans for first-time homebuyers was 5.28 percent, up 2 basis points (0.02 percent) month-on-month, and the average rate for loans for second homes was 5.57 percent, up 1 basis point (0.01 percent).

After 11 consecutive months of fixed LPR (Loan Prime Rate), a round of growing mortgage rates is coming. In Guangzhou, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China and other State banks have raised their interest rates for first-time homebuyers to 5.3 percent. In comparison, the rate was 5.2 percent one month ago. “An increase of housing mortgage rates is not far away,” an unnamed source said.