Yuexiu’s Beijing residential project sold out in hours as buyers look past potential property tax
- Buyers for the 468 units in the Zhuxinzhuang area, in Beijing’s northern Changping district, were selected in three hours flat via a lottery on Wednesday
- The neighbourhood is home to tech companies such as Xiaomi and Roborock, with access to amenities and subway lines
Yuexiu Property, a state-controlled developer, sold all the 468 units on offer in a new, under construction residential project in Beijing, indicating strong underlying appetite for flats in top-tier cities despite concerns about a new property tax.
Buyers for the units in the Zhuxinzhuang area, located in Beijing’s northern Changping district, were selected in three hours via a lottery on Wednesday evening. The neighbourhood is home to tech companies such as Xiaomi and Roborock and market observers said it was a rare opportunity for buyers to own property at such a price in an area that is equipped with amenities and subway lines.
The presale took place a day after the central government moved to build a national household registration system, triggering speculation that a property tax could be imposed, which could dampen homebuying sentiment. Analysts said such a levy was unlikely to be imposed across the board.
“A nationwide property tax could be levied selectively, like on high-price housing or second homes as we have seen in property tax pilots, to minimise or avoid impacting select groups,” said Janz Chiang, a Beijing-based property analyst at consultancy Trivium China. “This kind of selective implementation will allow local governments to levy property taxes on those who can afford it while ensuring affordability for those trying to buy their first homes.”
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Homebuyers reposed their faith in the developer, which said in an earnings announcement that it met the “three red lines” metric, a measure that Beijing imposed on the property sector in 2020 to rein in developers’ unbridled leverage by restricting the amount of new funds they can borrow each year.
