Guangzhou developers jump into sales action

Developers in Guangzhou reportedly offered discounts and put projects up for sale immediately after authorities further eased the home purchase limits in the city, hoping a Golden September and Silver October sales boom can still be achieved.

A project in Baiyun district was yesterday welcoming would-be purchasers, and the Guangzhou-based builder Clifford Group offered 27 percent off for all units on sale including homes in the Panyu and Huadu districts.

The action came just half an hour after the Guangzhou government rolled out more easing measures on home purchase curbs in the city.

The capital of Guangdong province will allow residents in four more districts to buy two units, including Huangpu, Panyu, Huadu and some areas of Baiyun.

And non-residents are permitted to buy one home in the city as long as they have paid personal income tax or social insurance for two years in a row versus five years before.

And Guangzhou shortened the value-added tax exemption period for home purchases to two years from five - a move expected to indirectly boost home transactions in the secondary market.

Also, more than 700 units were put up for sale in a second-hand home platform within 15 hours of the official announcement.

The further relaxation comes after a first round of supportive policies at the end of August failed to trigger a sales boom.

The traded home areas in the first two weeks in Guangzhou only edged up 2.4 percent monthly, data from China Index Academy showed.

Meanwhile, there was more bad news about the embattled China Evergrande (3333).

Zhu Jialin, a former chairman of Evergrande Life, has reportedly been taken away for investigation.

That comes on the heels of police in Shenzhen last week detaining staff from the wealth management operation at Evergrande.