Hangzhou, the host city of the 2016 G20 summit, saw a total of 5,105 houses sold on Sept. 18, one day before the city’s new home-buying restriction took effect, setting a record high.Some 3,265 new houses, together with 1,840 second-hand properties, were sold to buyers whose household registrations are not for Hangzhou. Some real estate developers even traveled to other cities where clients lived to seal the deal.
An increasing number of people have begun setting their sights on Hangzhou with regards to property investment, especially after the G20 summit, with housing prices increasing by about 50 percent, news site Sina.com.cn reported.
Unfortunately, overheated investment can also increase the price of innovative entrepreneurship in Hangzhou, not to mention living costs. This could pose a challenge to future development of the city, warned Professor Yu Xiaofen from Zhejiang University of Technology in an article published by Hangzhou’s housing administration bureau.
Amid the home-buying craze, the city government announced on Sept. 18 that it would impose a home-buying restriction on non-Hangzhou registrants who have already boughtone house in Hangzhou, banning them from purchasing additional properties. It was announced that the order would take effect on Sept. 19.
Hangzhou is just the latest Chinese city to impose a new home-buying restriction. The cities of Suzhou and Xiamen in Jiangsu and Fujian provinces also placed restrictions on second-time home buyers in August, while provincial capitals Hefei and Wuhan of Anhui and Hubei provinces imposed limitations on housing loans, according to Sina.com.cn.