Affordable-housing sales poor in tier-one mainland cities
Sales of government-subsidised housing in Shanghai and Beijing have been disappointing because those who qualify for such flats cannot afford the high purchase prices, agents and property analysts say.
Sales of government-subsidised housing in Shanghai and Beijing have been disappointing because those who qualify for such flats cannot afford the high purchase prices, agents and property analysts say.
"The sales of affordable housing in Shanghai are not good because the qualifying salary ceiling is too low," said Song Huiyong, head of research at Centaline (China) in Shanghai.
"To qualify for the housing, the income of an applicant may not be more than 5,000 yuan (HK$6,160) a month. But the prices of those flats range between 600,000 and 700,000 yuan.
"Only people who earn much more than 5,000 yuan a month could afford to raise a mortgage to pay such a price, and so the people who qualify cannot afford to buy the flats," he said.
A property agent said: "We were appointed as selling agents of a subsidised housing project in Shanghai last year.
"We thought the units would be popular, as housing demand is strong and the prices of those flats are up to 30 per cent below prices of similar-sized houses in the private market. But sales have been disappointing and we have had to launch marketing campaigns to promote the project as we do for private housing estates."
