Nanjing Property Market Rebounds During "Golden Week"
"I only sold two houses in September, but during the short National Day holiday, I sold three sets," Liu Jie (a pseudonym), a sales manager at a real estate project in Nanjing, recently told a reporter from China Business News. "Now is a good time to buy a house; if you wait until developers have met their annual targets, there won't be significant discounts anymore."
Liu Jie's experience in selling houses has become a microcosm of the stabilization and recovery of Nanjing's real estate market during this year's National Day "Golden Week." Recently, when the reporter visited multiple real estate projects in Nanjing, they found that many developers were playing the holiday "marketing card," competing to attract customers to clear their inventory by offering special discount houses and worker-offset houses.
CRIC Nanjing's statistical data shows that during this year's National Day "Golden Week," the city of Nanjing had a subscription area of 81,300 square meters, a year-on-year increase of 3%. However, as the real estate market begins to heat up, the inventory situation in Nanjing's real estate market has also attracted outside attention. According to CRIC Nanjing's statistical data, currently, the de-stocking cycle in the main urban area of Nanjing has reached 15.41 months.
Under these circumstances, the recent marketing moves by Nanjing developers, such as buying a house and getting an airplane (usage rights) or buying a house and getting stocks, also show the pressure faced by real estate companies to de-stock and the intense market competition.
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"Developers launch promotional activities, generally to attract the attention of homebuyers and accelerate the de-stocking of projects," Wang Xiaokuang, the chief analyst at Lin Ping Living Big Data Research Institute, told the reporter. With the recent release of a series of major new policies, the liquidity of the capital market has been strengthened, and confidence in the real estate market is expected to be significantly enhanced. "It is expected that the market activity in Nanjing this fourth quarter is likely to increase, and the decline in housing prices may narrow."
Popular projects trade price for volume.
"Come and see our project; there are discounts on prices during the National Day period," several sales consultants from the Nanjing Vanke Lang Shiyu Core project surrounded the reporter in front of the marketing center, enthusiastically recommending their own project.
Talking about the above "intercepting customers" scene, Wang Hao (a pseudonym), the sales manager of the Nanjing Vanke Lang Shiyu Core project, lamented to the reporter: "These people all come to grab customers because their projects are not selling well, hoping to find those customers with insufficient funds or who have not yet chosen their intended houses to view."
As a popular project in the Yuhuatai District of Nanjing, the Vanke Lang Shiyu Core project was launched in July 2023 and has since gone through several rounds of additional promotions. Data from the China Index Research Institute shows that in the top 20 sales amount ranking of Nanjing's commercial housing projects in the first half of 2024, Vanke Lang Shiyu Core topped the list with a sales amount of 1.657 billion yuan.
However, as the "sales champion" of the first half of this year, Vanke Lang Shiyu Core has also offered significant discounts.Wang Hao introduced to the reporter, taking Room 3001 in Building 6 as an example, the record total price is about 5.37 million yuan. If the condition of signing a contract within 7 days (applying for a loan, paying a down payment, and signing a contract) is met, the clearance price can be as low as 4.65 million yuan. In the case of participating in the "1 yuan off 30,000 yuan" National Day promotional activity, the price can be further reduced to 4.62 million yuan.
Not only that, Wang Hao further introduced to the reporter that if the homebuyer works in related enterprises and institutions around the Vanke Lang Shi Yu Core project, such as Huawei, Nanjing Bank, and Zhonghua Middle School, etc., and holds a work certificate, they can participate in the enterprise group purchase activity, and an additional 30,000 yuan discount can be obtained on the above total price. That is, the housing price of Room 3001 in Building 6 can be as low as 4.59 million yuan, with a discount of nearly 800,000 yuan compared to the record total price.
In addition to Vanke Lang Shi Yu Core, there are also a number of popular real estate projects in Nanjing City that have launched a series of promotional activities to exchange price for volume.
"The best-selling project in Nanjing City in August - Poly He Yu Zhen Yue, invites you to witness it together." At the entrance of the Nanjing Poly He Yu Zhen Yue project, the advertising banner is eye-catching. A sales manager of the project told the reporter: "Our project has been the 'sales champion' of Nanjing City since May, and it has been so from May to August. Although the data for September has not been counted yet, it is highly likely to be the best-selling in Nanjing City."
Despite the good sales situation, the Nanjing Poly He Yu Zhen Yue project also offered a considerable discount. Taking Room 2701 in Building 17 as an example, the record price of this house is about 4.55 million yuan, and the discounted price is about 3.73 million yuan. The above Poly He Yu Zhen Yue sales manager introduced to the reporter: "At present, there is a 1% discount on this house on the basis of 3.73 million yuan, which is about 40,000 yuan, and the final selling price can be controlled within 3.7 million yuan. The free property fee needs to be applied to the leader and depends on the buyer's payment qualification."
According to the data of Nanjing Online Real Estate, as of 20:00 on October 7, during the National Day "Golden Week" holiday, Nanjing City's new house subscription was 1,020 sets, and 204 sets were sold, with a total of about 1,224 sets, an increase of 28% year-on-year. The China Index Research Institute also analyzed that the number of visitors to the sales departments of most projects in Nanjing City has increased significantly, and the transaction subscription volume has increased significantly compared to the same period last year.
A variety of marketing methods are endless.
During this year's National Day "Golden Week," the reporter visited several projects in Nanjing City and found that some developers also offered discounts of 8.5% or even 7.8%. Xu Tao, the sales manager of the Nanjing Jinji Ya Yue project (a pseudonym), told the reporter that their project launched a special National Day promotion. Taking Room 2804 in Building 3 with a construction area of 117.89 square meters as an example, the record price of this house is about 4.02 million yuan, and the discounted price is about 3.39 million yuan, equivalent to an 8.4% discount.
"The unit price of Room 2804 in Building 3 after the discount is about 28,000 yuan/square meter, and the project's land price is 23,000 yuan/square meter." Xu Tao frankly told the reporter, "Homebuyers can only enjoy this price during the project's clearance stage, basically selling one set at a loss."
Public information shows that during this year's National Day, 152 new commercial housing projects in Nanjing City launched holiday activities. Information from the China Index Research Institute shows that the new housing market in Nanjing City presents a relatively hot scene, with multiple projects launching a variety of National Day holiday limited discounts, such as an additional 3% discount, a limited-time 8.5% discount, and worker-offered houses.In fact, before the National Day holiday this year, the "bandwagon-jumping" behavior of real estate developers in Nanjing had already attracted market attention.
According to multiple media reports, on September 28th, a real estate promotional poster about "buying a house and getting stocks" was widely circulated on social platforms. The poster showed that the project offering the aforementioned activity was Jiang Xin Yin Garden, with developers being China Merchants Shekou and Ruicheng Real Estate.
A sales manager at Jiang Xin Yin Garden project had previously sent a message to a reporter, indicating that the project is located at the intersection of Mei Zi Zhou Road and Wen Tai Road in Jiang Xin Zhou, Jian Ye District, Nanjing, consisting of 11 high-rise buildings ranging from 31 to 32 floors, mainly featuring large-area products of more than 140 square meters.
According to the sales manager, Jiang Xin Yin Garden is currently a ready-for-occupancy project. Public information shows that the project's launch time was in July 2022.
"Starting from now, owners who purchase Jiang Xin Yin Garden can fully enjoy the benefits of the stock market. Owners can buy any stocks based on their own experience, and the stock principal is subsidized by Jiang Xin Yin Garden (up to 100,000 yuan for 140 square meter properties, and up to 200,000 yuan for 180 square meter properties)," the poster stated, "No principal required for easy stock trading, and stock profits belong to the customer from the date of purchase for 30 days." The activity period was "from now until October 7th."
On September 30th, when a reporter called the sales office of Jiang Xin Yin Garden project, the staff repeatedly denied the existence of the "buy a house and get stocks" activity. "There is currently no 'buy a house and get stocks' activity, nor has there been in the past."
A report by Caixin showed that sales staff at the sales office of Jiang Xin Yin Garden project had previously stated that due to the activity not passing the review, the "buy a house and get stocks" activity had been taken down and replaced with a 200,000 yuan discount on home purchases. The project is currently in a sales sprint phase, and it is expected that subsequent promotional efforts will be even greater.
Regarding the specific preferential policies of the project, the staff at the sales office of Jiang Xin Yin Garden project told the reporter: "At present, the project has launched several special offer units on lower floors, with prices around 43,000 yuan per square meter."
According to information released by China Merchants Shekou Nanjing Company, the developer of Jiang Xin Yin Garden project, on October 9th, during the National Day holiday, the company conducted the first "Golden Autumn Home Festival" themed event, attracting approximately 2,000 groups of visitors and concluding 161 property deals, with a total transaction amount of 730 million yuan.
The real estate market is expected to become more active."The reason for launching promotional activities is to boost sales. The project was previously sold at the original price without any discounts, but now houses are not easy to sell," said a salesperson from the China Merchants Center · Zhenjing project. It is reported that the China Merchants Center · Zhenjing project was launched in 2022, and some of the house types are now on sale as ready-to-move-in properties.
"The promotional activities launched by developers 'riding the wave' are a marketing strategy that can make more people aware of the project information. As long as the content is not overly exaggerated or violates relevant regulations, it is commendable," Wang Xiaoqiang said.
Can the 'riding the wave' marketing behavior increase project sales? Wang Xiaoqiang analyzed and believed: "Marketing 'gimmicks' can attract industry attention, but the sales volume of the project mainly depends on market confidence and the quality of the project itself. I personally think that the impact of marketing 'gimmicks' on increasing sales volume is not significant."
According to data from CRIC Nanjing, in September of this year, the supply and demand of the new housing market in Nanjing both increased. The supply was 283,200 square meters, a month-on-month increase of 42.90%; the transaction volume was 359,300 square meters, a month-on-month increase of 18.63%, and the year-on-year decline narrowed to 0.64%.
In the second-hand housing market, which better reflects the 'hot and cold' of the real estate market, data from the Nanjing Research Institute of My Home shows that in September, the transaction volume of second-hand houses in Nanjing city was 7,303 sets (including Gaochun and Lishui districts), a month-on-month decline of 11.9%, and a year-on-year increase of 10%. The market transaction activity decreased compared to August. In terms of price, the transaction average price reached 22,865 yuan per square meter, a month-on-month increase of 3.3%. Since June, it has been stable at 22,000-23,000 yuan per square meter for four consecutive months.
"At present, the 'Silver October' has started better than expected, so it is highly likely that the transaction scale of commodity housing will rebound in October. With the continuous fermentation of the central bank's policy, if there is a fiscal policy that can improve the expectations of residents' employment and income levels to work together, customer confidence in buying houses will gradually increase. Moreover, due to the year-end sprint of real estate companies in the fourth quarter, it is still the peak season for marketing, and the supply and demand scale is expected to stabilize," CRIC Nanjing analyzed.