In April 2024, Wang Jing finally sold her house in Yanjiao, Hebei Province, and the 94-square-meter two-bedroom house was sold for 930,000 yuan, with a unit price of 9,800 yuan per square meter, which not only set the lowest record in the community since 2015, but also made the housing price in the community return to below 10,000 yuan after ten years.
Wang Jing's process of selling the house was full of twists and turns, and it took five years to go before and after, during which the listing price was lowered 18 times, and the final transaction price was less than one-third of the peak. She said that too much time and energy was invested in selling a house in Yanjiao, and "the agent also felt that the price was low, but I didn't want to spend it."
In the decade from 2015 to 2024, Yanjiao's housing prices have experienced a rollercoaster of turmoil, with rapid increases of more than three times in the first three years, and then entering a seven-year downward channel. A series of favorable factors, such as the relaxation of purchase restrictions and the start of construction of Metro Line 22, have still not reversed the decline of the property market.
Ye Bin is the head of a real estate agency in Yanjiao, and his business covers the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region during the peak of real estate. He told the Economic Observer that although the mainstream transaction price of the Yanjiao property market remained above 10,000 yuan, from March and April, there were a large number of transactions with a unit price of less than 10,000 yuan.
Not only Yanjiao, but also other parts of Beijing have seen a sharp drop in housing prices over the past seven years. Ye Bin said that at present, the mainstream transaction price of Dachang is maintained at 7,000 yuan/square meter to 8,000 yuan/square meter, Langfang urban area, Xianghe, Gu'an and other areas remain at 5,000 yuan/square meter to 6,000 yuan/square meter, and other areas are lower than 5,000 yuan/square meter.
The property market in Beijing has been up and down for ten years, and only a few have successfully escaped from the top, and most buyers have experienced the torment of "ice and fire" in housing prices like Wang Jing. Wang Jing said that her house could have been sold for a higher price, but because she was unwilling to miss it, "people have to have the courage to face the reality, otherwise they will only lose more".
Reluctance to accept reality
Wang Jing's house was purchased in March 2012 for a total price of more than 800,000 yuan. After getting married in 2015, she moved to Yanjiao.
Soon after Wang Jing moved to Yanjiao, the property market in Beijing ushered in the biggest wave of market, and the joy brought by the continuous rise in housing prices offset the troubles of the newlyweds commuting across the city. At that time, the increase in value brought by the rise in housing prices for a month was equivalent to Wang Jing's income for a year.
On March 17, 2017, Beijing issued the "strictest in history" purchase restriction policy, and real estate practitioners and owners in the Beijing area generally believe that after Beijing's purchase restriction, a large amount of demand will spill over to the Beijing area, of which Yanjiao property market will become the biggest beneficiary of Beijing's purchase restrictions.
After the introduction of Beijing's purchase restriction policy, the housing prices in the Beijing area reached a historical high, with the housing prices in Yanjiao approaching 40,000 yuan/square meter, the price of large factories exceeding 30,000 yuan/square meter, and the housing prices in Langfang City, Gu'an, Xianghe and other districts and counties also generally exceeding 20,000 yuan/square meter. The house price in Wang Jing's community rose to 35,000 yuan per square meter.
At that time, Wang Jing and her husband were already planning to buy a house in Beijing, and according to the market price, her house in Yanjiao could be sold for about 3.3 million yuan, which was four times the starting price. "If I sell my house in Yanjiao, and with the savings in my hand, I can buy a house in Beijing with all the money", but Wang Jing's plan did not catch up with the change.
On March 25, 2017, Langfang issued a real estate purchase restriction policy for Huanjing District and County. Housing prices in the Beijing area began to turn.
Wang Jing still clearly remembers that during the May Day holiday in 2017, when she paid the deposit for the Beijing house, the unit price of the Yanjiao house had fallen below 30,000 yuan per square meter. The two discussed that they would not sell the house in Yanjiao. A house in Beijing can be bought with a loan, and it will be delivered in two years, so you don't have to move in these two years.
In the second half of 2019, after the house in Beijing was renovated, Wang Jing's family of three moved back to Beijing. At that time, Wang Jing was no longer at work, taking care of the children full-time, and planned to sell the house in Yanjiao, pay off the mortgage in advance, and reduce the pressure on the family. "At that time, the listing price of the same house in the community was about 2.5 million yuan, and we hung 2.2 million yuan."
Not long after the house was put out, the agent contacted Wang Jing, and a buyer had taken a fancy to the house and asked her to go for an interview. Wang Jing went to Yanjiao to meet with buyers. Wang Jing did not sell if it was less than 2 million yuan, and the buyer did not buy it if it was more than 1.8 million yuan, and the intermediary persuaded Wang Jing to give in, but the two sides finally collapsed.
A week later, the agent told Wang Jing that the buyer had bought a house of the same type for 1.8 million yuan in the same neighborhood, and the floor was better. Wang Jing's bottom line of "not selling if it is less than 2 million yuan" has not changed, but the listing price is still adjusted to 2.12 million yuan.
At the beginning of 2020, Wang Jing couldn't sit still, she lowered the listing price of the house to 1.98 million yuan, and told the agent that she could accept the price of 1.8 million yuan.
The agent told Wang Jing that it would be easier to sell her house by another 200,000-300,000 yuan. Wang Jing said that she did not catch up with the peak of 3.3 million yuan, but she did not sell it for 1.5 million yuan, "I can't get over the hurdles in my heart."
Throughout 2020, Wang Jing was in a state of "unable to keep up with the pace of the market", and every time she finally accepted the market price, the market price reached a new low. After several price adjustments, the house has dropped to 1.55 million yuan, but it is still not sold.
In 2021, Wang Jing will completely "lie flat", "sell if you can, and hang if you can't sell it".
Finally "cut the meat"
Wang Jing's "lying flat" attitude towards selling houses lasted for two years. During this period, she no longer cared about the real estate market, and due to the epidemic, it was inconvenient to enter and exit Yanjiao, and she rarely went to see houses in Yanjiao.
The price of second-hand houses in Yanjiao has been falling, but the prices of new houses are relatively firm. A person in charge of real estate project marketing in Yanjiao told the Economic Observer that due to fears of the "collapse" of property prices, Yanjiao developers reached an agreement on housing prices: insist on not reducing prices.
House prices have "stabilized", and some sporadic improvement transactions still exist. The above-mentioned marketing person said that the projects he is responsible for selling have transactions every month, more than a dozen sets, less than one or two sets, "there is no problem in maintaining the normal operation of the project, but it is difficult to make a profit."
Wang Jing's daughter will be in elementary school in the fall of 2023. After the Spring Festival holiday, Wang Jing plans to buy a school district house in Tianjin. If you want to buy a house in Tianjin, you need to sell your house in Yanjiao.
After restarting the house selling model, Wang Jing once again fell into a state of "unable to keep up with the rhythm of the market", and the psychological price dropped from 1.5 million yuan to 1.45 million yuan, and then to 1.4 million yuan and 1.3 million yuan.
At the end of 2023, Wang Jing made a special trip back to Yanjiao to find an intermediary, and the two had lunch. During the dinner, the intermediary analyzed the reason why the house could not be sold for Wang Jing, and under the market situation at that time, a transaction price was already "outdated" when it came out, and the next same house wanted to be traded, and the price needed to be reduced again. The difference is "the question of how much to drop".
Wang Jing agreed with the agent's analysis and began to reflect on her own question: all sellers are facing the same market, why can someone accept to sell the house at a low price, but they are dragged by the market?
After the Spring Festival in 2024, Wang Jing began to buy a house in Tianjin, and it became urgent to sell the house in Yanjiao. The intermediary suggested that she reduce the price at one time, "I asked how much it was in place, and the intermediary said 1 million yuan."
At that time, the intermediary thought that Wang Jing was annoyed by the suggested price, and patiently explained to Wang Jing. Wang Jing said that she figured out that her goal was to buy a school district house in Tianjin, and the house in Yanjiao only had to be sold, "compared to the children, the house is nothing."
Wang Jing told the agent that if the buyer is willing to pay the full amount, the price is negotiable. At the beginning of April, the house was finally sold at a price of 930,000 yuan, and the buyer paid the full amount by the end of April. "At this price, it is estimated that I will be scolded to death by my neighbors. Wang Jing said.
Since its listing in 2019, Wang Jing's house has finally been sold after 18 price reductions in five years. Although the selling price is far from the psychological level, it does not lose money compared to the buying price. After this long experience of selling a house, Wang Jing learned one word: stop loss in time.
fell below 10,000 yuan
In the second half of 2022, Wang Jing has two friends who have sold their houses in Huanjing, of which a friend's house in Yanjiao was sold for 2.2 million yuan for 110 square meters, and another friend's house in Xianghe, which was sold for 115 square meters for 1.2 million yuan. Both of them sold at a lower price than they were asked to buy.
Wang Jing said that in 2020, the house price in Xianghe has fallen below 10,000 yuan, and the price sold by friends in the second half of 2022 is "sold well". Yanjiao's friend's house was sold by cutting meat, "about 200,000 yuan lower than the market price, a loss of more than 100,000 yuan."
Wang Jing and Yanjiao's friends persuaded each other, she advised her friend not to sell the house at a low price, even if she didn't make money, she couldn't sell it at a loss, and her friend advised her to sell as soon as possible, the house price would be lower in the future, but they did not convince each other.
Looking back, Wang Jing admired her friend's bravery. If her friend had listened to her persuasion at that time, the total price would have been reduced by 700,000 yuan to 900,000 yuan, and if Wang Jing had listened to her friend's advice, she would have been able to sell 600,000 or 700,000 yuan more.
In mid-April, a set of houses of the same type was traded in the community where Xianghe's friend's house is located, with a transaction price of 660,000 yuan and a unit price of 5,500 yuan per square meter. This is also the mainstream transaction price of the current Xianghe property market. Some developers in Xianghe have even launched a special room of more than 3,000 yuan/square meter.
Ye Bin told the Economic Observer that the housing price in Xianghe reached 25,000 yuan/square meter at its peak, and the mainstream transaction price in the market in 2021 was generally within 10,000 yuan/square meter. In the second half of 2023, the Xianghe property market will begin to have a large number of transactions with a unit price of about 5,000 yuan/square meter.
It is not far from the time when Xianghe fell below the 10,000 yuan mark, and the housing prices in Langfang urban area and Gu'an have also fallen below 10,000 yuan. At present, the mainstream transaction price in some areas of Langfang urban area has remained at 7,000 yuan/square meter-8,000 yuan/square meter, and some areas have fallen to 3,000 yuan/square meter-5,000 yuan/square meter, and the mainstream transaction price of Gu'an property market is about 6,000 yuan/square meter.
Earlier, the housing prices in Yongqing, Bazhou, Zhuozhou, Huailai and other areas around Beijing have fallen below 10,000 yuan.
In the Dachang area, which is close to Xianghe, in the second half of 2022, the transaction price in the Xiadian area will be the first to fall below 10,000 yuan, and it will spread to the whole county in 2023. "When the house price in Yanjiao rose to 40,000 yuan/square meter, the price of large factories reached 35,000 yuan/square meter, and the current mainstream transaction price was 7,000 yuan/square meter - 8,000 yuan/square meter. Ye Bin said.
As the area with the strongest property market prices in Beijing, in the fourth quarter of 2023, some communities in Yanjiao will have transactions of less than 10,000 yuan/square meter, "There were not many cases at that time, and more began in March this year." Ye Bin said that most of them are owners who are in a hurry to use their money, either to change their houses or to repay their debts if their business fails.
Ye Bin said that in the past, some owners sold their houses to microfinance companies in order to avoid being auctioned, but due to poor market transactions, microfinance companies have stopped collecting houses. "The transaction in March was good, there were four or five hundred sets of shell systems, and there should be thousands of sets in Yanjiao. Ye Bin said. Entering April, the transaction of the Yanjiao property market returned to "normal" again, "those who are in a hurry to use the money have to sell at a reduced price, and for so many years, the house price has been brushed down little by little".
A manager of a local real estate company in Yanjiao told the Economic Observer that the rapid rise in the property market in the past has doubled the book wealth of some people, which has made these groups dilute their risk awareness to a certain extent, "I take it for granted that housing prices will continue to rise, but I hope that after this baptism, the real estate market can mature and buyers can also mature."
Wang Jing said that people must know how to admit defeat, not to mention that this kind of admitting defeat is not a real loss, but it is just a small profit, "At that time (2019), I subconsciously felt that I should sell it, but I was unwilling, and now I think back on it is really ridiculous, can you survive the big situation?"
(At the request of the interviewee, Wang Jing and Ye Bin are pseudonyms)