Guangzhou may reach out to HK and Macau homebuyers

Guangdong’s provincial government may lift home-purchase restrictions (HPR) in “eligible cities” for buyers from Hong Kong and Macau, as part of its plan to clear the province’s stock of unsold flats.
A document covering ten measures was released on Monday night, stating that Hong Kong and Macau buyers will be entitled to the same benefits as locals in “eligible cities.”
Though it did not identify the cities, South China Morning Post reported that industry experts believe Guangzhou is likely to be included as its house prices have been down recently, compared to other cities.
Guangzhou posted a year-on-year decline of 1.38 percent in January, according to China Real Estate Index System reports. Conversely, new home prices in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai rose by 53 percent, 15 percent and 9 percent, respectively, over the past 12 months.
“I think it is possible that Guangzhou will lift home-purchasing restrictions, especially in new districts where inventory is high,” said Alan Jin, a property analyst at Mizuho Securities.
Jin added that the current restrictions cover all of Guangzhou, with the exception of two fringe districts, Zengcheng and Conghua.
One of the ten measures mentions the need for Guangzhou to adjust effective administrative boundaries for its obsolete home-purchasing restrictions. Jin believes that after the adjustment, the restrictions may be applied to outlying districts of Guangzhou, except for Haizhu and the Pearl River New Town Area, which are the centers of the city.
“Guangzhou is the only possibility among tier-one cities that may see the lifting of HPRs,” he noted. “Shenzhen and Shanghai are not likely, given the frantic increases in housing prices. Beijing has huge population inflow pressure already.”
Guangdong’s new policy aims to reduce the amount of unsold units by 12.5 percent come 2018. At the end of 2015, the province had unsold stock of 160 million square meters, of which 22.48 million square meters were located in Guangzhou. Staff reporter