Hainan issued a "ban on apartments" in the industry: to prevent some housing companies from tilting the focus of development to quasi-residential projects

Per reporter: Chen Ronghao Per editor: Chen Mengyu

On October 12, Hainan jointly issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Management of the Whole Process of Commercial and Office Construction Projects (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which put forward restrictive regulatory policies from the management of land transfer, architectural design, and finally project sales and property rights registration links of construction projects.

The "Opinions" also stipulate that projects built in the name of health care and headquarters economy shall be implemented with reference to implementation, and resolutely prevent the disguised development of commercial housing in the name of health care and headquarters economy.

This is another city/province that has introduced policies to control the relocation of businesses after Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou.

<h2>It is strictly forbidden to change the commercial residence: it is forbidden to advertise "apartment" and "bedroom"</h2>

The "Opinions" pointed out that market entities should strictly follow the approved planned use for development, construction, sales and use, and it is strictly forbidden to change the planned use without authorization. Those who fail to carry out construction in accordance with the conditions stipulated in the land contract and the VAM agreement shall be investigated for responsibility in accordance with law.

The "Opinions" also clearly stipulates the shape of the developer's building plan, which should be laid out in the form of public corridors and public toilets, and shall not be designed in the form of residential suites. The façade should have obvious public building forms and characteristics.

In addition, at the level of publicity and sales, the Opinions point out that developers must not appear in the description of residential functions such as "apartment", "bedroom" and "living room" when publicizing to the outside world.

Yan Yuejin, research director of the think tank center of Yiju Research Institute, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the regulation and control policy of Hainan actually emphasizes the orientation of de-real estate and prevents some housing enterprises from tilting the focus of development to residential projects.

"The tone of the Hainan policy continues to show that it is not feasible for all kinds of behaviors to exploit policy loopholes, including the need for housing enterprises and home buyers to strictly abide by the rules of project development and subscription, and prevent cross-red lines."

Yan Yuejin believes that this year's Hainan real estate market performance is more active, in the context of the current strict housing purchase policy, some buyers have begun to enter the residential market, if not to control the market, see the demand of housing enterprises may enter this market, which will damage the existing commercial office property norms, but also promote the atmosphere of speculation, is not conducive to the stability of the real estate market.

The "Daily Economic News" reporter inquired about the data of the Hainan Bureau of Statistics and found that in the past 1-8 months, Hainan's real estate development investment was 80.5 billion yuan, an increase of 10.8% year-on-year. Among them, the real estate investment in Haikou was 28.3 billion yuan, an increase of 10%, and the real estate investment in Sanya was 28.1 billion yuan, an increase of 28.2%.

Sun Bushu, vice president of the South China Urban Research Association, believes that in recent years, under the policy dividend of the free trade port, the industrial agglomeration effect in Hainan is obvious, the foreign population structure is gradually changing, and the demand for rental housing, commercial apartments, including commercial housing has increased compared with before. Therefore, how to adapt to the development of the Hainan real estate market may be the focus of policy attention in the next stage.

<h2>Secure property properties</h2>

Hainan is not the first province or city to issue a "ban on apartments".

According to the incomplete statistics of the "Daily Economic News" reporter, since 2017, more than half of the key cities in the country have issued bans on apartments that restrict commercial accommodation. From the perspective of urban distribution, there are more than 17 in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanjing, Dongguan and so on.

It is worth noting that in addition to restricting commercial housing, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities have also introduced policies to encourage "commercial rent", providing another way out for commercial housing.

The reporter noted that among the many cities that have promulgated restrictions on commercial reform, the most stringent policy and the most complete level of regulation and control are Beijing.

On March 26, 2017, Beijing issued the strictest "apartment ban" in history, from planning to holding to trading, Beijing formed a complete closed system, and began to comprehensively contain the phenomenon of commercial reform in the market.

Pan Hao, a senior analyst at Shell Research Institute, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the regulation of commercial projects is conducive to ensuring the properties of real estate, residential to residential, commercial to commercial, which can reduce the customer base of commercial properties, thereby reducing the premium level of commercial property land.

A buyer in Longhua, Shenzhen, told reporters that he regretted buying a commercial apartment, "I was pit by the developer!" When I first bought the house, the sales told me that the property of the house was an apartment, but then the notice of the street enforcement office told me that only Buildings A and B were residential in the project, and the rest of the products were planned for commercial office and commercial buildings. In other words, the house I bought was an apartment converted from an office building. ”

So, where is the way out for commercial projects in popular cities at present?

People in the industry generally believe that for the commercial projects that currently exist in popular cities, the conversion of some suitable commercial projects into housing leases can not only revitalize the stock assets of commercial properties, but also help increase the supply of housing rentals in the city and stabilize rent prices.

Daily economic news